Ref. Ares(2020)2370748 - 05/05/2020
Ref. Ares(2021)3535027 - 28/05/2021
ETUC note on the EU Recovery Strategy
from the COVID-19 outbreak
ETUC urges the EU institutions and Member States to start immediately to define
a clear, ambitious, and coordinated EU recovery plan, according to the extraordinary
nature of the crisis. We need
a massive fiscal stimulus underpinned by a European
Union able to
mobilize resources and investment, in order to
address the relevant
risks of a huge recession and unemployment following the emergency phase.
The recovery has to be designed in a way to build a more sustainable, inclusive and fair
economic model based on a social market economy, where the environment is
respected, digital innovation is put at the service of people, the European economy is
protected, massive quality job creation is triggered, workers and social rights are
protected, public services particularly health care and education and training are restored
and reinforced, universal social protection is ensured.
We come out of a decade of austerity and cuts, during which business interests and
profits have always come before protection of people and environmental and social
justice and inequalities in society and at work have been exacerbated. This has to be
fixed, we cannot go back to business as usual and any recovery strategy has to be based
on an ambitious, fair and inclusive approach.
General principles
This means as a starting point looking at how to
further expand and prolong the
emergency measures, to provide support to enterprises and workers through the fall-
out of the crisis (not all activities will be able to restart at the same time), maintain
employment and ensure the supply of essential goods and services.
All unused structural and investment funds must be rapidly deployed, by reducing
national co-financing rates for both public and private investment, as well as temporarily
easing application, monitoring and reporting requirements, and
continue ensuring full
flexibility and the suspension of the Stability and Growth Pact until the end of the
economic and social emergency linked to the COVID-19 crisis.
Additionally, the process for
the Review of the European Economic Governance
must be continued and accelerated. The same should be done regarding the
ongoing
proposals on taxation, particularly on corporations, as well as for taxation of
digital multinational enterprises and fight against tax evasion and tax havens.
All recovery measures must be deployed in
an environmentally and socially
sustainable manner, in line with the
Charter of fundamental rights of the European
Union and the principles of the
European Pillar of Social Rights, the
Paris
Agreement, the climate target objectives set by the
European Green Deal, and the
Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda. Additionally, recovery
measures should be taken in the full respect of
ILO conventions and European
Convention of Human Rights and the European Social Charter of the Council of
European Trade Union Confederation | Luca Visentini, General Secretary | Bld du Roi Albert II, 5, B - 1210 Brussels | +32 (0)2 224 04 11 | xxxx@xxxx.xxx | www.etuc.org
Europe. Human rights are non-negotiable, they should be mainstreamed in all EU
policies, regulation and initiatives.
The EU recovery strategy must be implemented through proper social dialogue
and effective involvement of social partners. Building a sustainable economic model
for Europe means
strengthening workers’ and trade union rights, protections and
health and safety, as well as social dialogue, collective bargaining and workers’
participation, as fundamental tools for democracy and inclusion.
The Covid-19 crisis has exacerbated inequalities in society and at work, it has
shown that work is less and less correlated with stable employment and adequate
wages. A sustainable economic model should
address such inequalities.
Recovery
measures should restore the legal protections of workers that were in place before
the outbreak and amended by emergency regulations. Restrictions to human rights,
including workers’ and trade union rights, access to justice and effective remedies,
imposed as temporary measures should be lifted.
A recovery strategy should
revalorise the role of EU law and legislative processes. The
EU better regulation agenda should avoid the risks linked to management by objectives
and its adverse effects. Quantitative and qualitative assessments should be better
balanced, social and labour rights and environmental standards should be equally
appraised, in full respect of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. EU law should
be seen as an investment rather than a cost. The new ‘one in one out’ initiative should
be abandoned.
Relevant
initiatives recently launched by the European Commission, such as
the
Green Deal, the Digital and Skills Agendas, the initiatives for Fair Minimum Wages
and Pay Transparency, must be continued and not delayed. The transposition and
implementation of
already adopted legislative instruments must be continued, e.g.
the revision of the
Posting of Workers Directive, the
Directive on Transparent and
Predictable Working Conditions, the
Recommendation on Social Protection, the
Work Life Balance Directive.
The same must apply to
other announced initiatives, such as the one for
Platform
Workers which should cover all non-standard workers, and the proposal for a
European Unemployment Reinsurance Scheme (EURS) which should be
complementary to SURE.
Both instruments should become permanent in the
framework of the recovery strategy.
The COVID-19 crisis has had a devastating impact on women and has shown how
work predominantly done by women is undervalued and underpaid – particularly in
crucial public sectors and frontline work such as health, social care, education and
training, retail and cleaning. The pandemic crisis also highlights the poor working and
living conditions of women who are domestic workers, especially migrant, and the
unequal share of unrecognised care duties between women and men.
These concerns call for policy interventions that cannot be delayed, an EU Gender
Equality Strategy must be part of the recovery strategy. This should include: effective program of actions to tackle the
gender pay gap; the urgent continuation of
the
Pay Transparency Directive and for this to be refocused to end undervaluing work
done by women; actions to ensure proper representation of women into decision making
at all levels in the
Women in Boards Directive; recognition and qualification for
unpaid
care work; recognition, income protection and social support for all
domestic workers and the ratification of the
ILO Convention 189 by all EU member states; the fast and
ambitious implementation of the
Work Life Balance Directive; and effective and prompt
action against gender domestic violence, starting with the ratification of the
Istanbul
Convention.
Young people have been working before and during the lockdown, particularly in the
platform economy, student jobs, internships or apprenticeships. Due to their temporary,
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short-term contracts many young workers have been easily laid-off and
do not have
access to social protection or financial compensation for their loss of income.
There is a need for
specific protection for young people during the emergency and
beyond.
Finally,
both national and EU-level authorities should learn from what has
happened and not to simply go back to doing things the way they were done
before, after the crisis is over. This is an opportunity to capture and retain the innovations
and cultural changes that have taken place, the
blind and counterproductive austerity
measures of the past must be abandoned, in order to build a more sustainable,
fair and inclusive economic model. The crisis has demonstrated that it is possible to
act with speed, agility and good governance in an emergency situation, the same has to
happen in the future.
Over the last months we all experienced how crucial public policies and the role of sound
state initiatives are in protecting lives and supporting people in difficult situations.
This
crisis was an extraordinary test collective of solidarity and responsibility in almost
every country. Additionally, our societies and economies will be rebuilt thanks to the
contribution of workers, therefore
social dialogue and collective bargaining should
be essential guiding principles of the recovery plans.
Financing the recovery
For a recovery strategy to be effective, it needs to be accompanied by a
rapid
agreement on an ambitious new multi-annual financial framework (MFF), including
the possibility of a
specific European Recovery Fund, in order to support the recovery
with fresh money.
In this respect, Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen’s announcement that the
MFF should be raised up to 2% of the European GDP (at December 2019 levels) is
for us in line with the ambition required. For this to be achieved, the only way is to
significantly increase the EU’s resources through increased taxation measures at
EU level and a common debt instrument to be guaranteed by the EU in order to
generate the size of financing and investment that is needed.
More specifically, the
best way to significantly increase EU’s own resources is
through increased general taxation to achieve more social and tax justice,
increased
taxation on polluting emissions while respecting social justice,
increased and fairer
corporate taxation, and a
more radical stance on the fight against tax avoidance
and tax evasion. This would ensure
a good basis for issuing a common European
debt instrument and thus create a fit-for-purpose financing capacity for the EU at
disposal of all Member States.
Different options on how and which kind of common
EU bonds should be issued can be explored, including the one envisaged in the smart
proposal
put forward by the Spanish government.
The resources of the Recovery Fund should be provided to Member States mainly
through grants, in order to avoid further increases in national public debt as a result of
the COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on our economies. Such grants and direct
investments should be
targeted to sectors that are strategic to ensure resilience of
the EU economy and to regions that are hardest hit by the crisis to improve territorial
cohesion and social inclusion.
We urge EU institutions and Member States to set aside all divisions and agree as
soon as possible the necessary measures and instruments.
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Specific measures
The recovery strategy must rapidly
channel investment into key strategic areas that
can reinforce Europe’s sustainable growth and quality employment creation, by
deploying all available financial tools.
New boost to all European economic sectors is needed, in particular through:
1.
Investment to be strengthened in strategic sectors, based on common EU
industrial and service policies, and by focusing on environmentally sustainable
economic activities, in line with the provisions of the Green Deal and the just
transition dimension.
2.
Stimulating a recovery led by stronger internal demand, thus striking a fairer
balance with export-led activities and ensuring a
fair distribution between
profits and wages, through living wages, upward wage convergence, ending the
undervaluing of work, strengthening collective bargaining at European, national
and sectoral level.
3.
Making our societies and economy greener, more circular and more
sustainable, with the Green Deal playing a key role in adapting to the new reality
after the crisis and being accompanied by a feasible economic action plan and a
socially just transition. All measures to relaunch the economy after COVID-19
crisis must be in line with their main objectives as well as compatible with the
Paris agreement and the UN SDGs. Recovery packages, as well as bailouts for
companies, should be designed to
support a just transition towards a carbon
neutral and a circular economy, keeping in mind the need to pay attention to
social, sectorial and regional circumstances.
4.
Building a Europe fully prepared for the Digital Age, by speeding up the
second phase of digitalisation, increasing public funding and overcoming
fragmentation.
Digitalisation and artificial intelligence at the workplace
should be strictly regulated, in accordance with the GDPR and agreed with
trade unions and workers representatives to avoid discrimination, undue
surveillance and violation of private data.
5.
Boosting Research and Innovation and the deployment and spreading of key
technologies anchored in well balanced IP regulatory frameworks.
6.
Supporting the creation of quality jobs and re-skilling and up-skilling of the
workforce. This should include statistical capacity to gather data on social and
labour issues in all member states.
7.
An EU new framework on information, consultation and board level
representation should be adopted so as to secure compliance with workers’
rights in particular in case of restructuring, where there is a threat to employment
and on decisions likely to lead to substantial changes in work organisation or in
contractual relations.
8. Respecting
occupational safety and health standards, workers’ rights,
social dialogue and collective bargaining, trade union rights and workers
participation.
9. Promoting
mandatory human rights due diligence and responsible business
conduct, including in the supply chains, in a way to guarantee
trade unions and
workers’ representatives involvement in the whole due diligence process.
10.
Call for specific youth related measures to protect young people. In
particular
the Youth Guarantee has to be reinforced, having in mind that for
many Member States the Youth Guarantee represents the only youth
employment policy.
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11. Significantly improving
investment in transport, energy, digital and social
infrastructure as well as in public health care, public services, education
and training and social protection systems.
12. Many public and essential services are delivered by local and regional
governments, but their budgets are suffering drastic reductions.
Specific
financing measures should be devoted to support local and regional
governments to ensure the continuation of the delivery of services in their
competences.
13.
Mapping the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on all sectors of the
economy, in order to identify the
policies needed to support their recovery and
assess the impact on their capacity to respect regulatory obligations.
14.
Preventing hostile take-overs (as stock prices are currently very low) of
European companies by other EU or extra-EU companies, and particularly by
(state-backed) companies from outside the EU, by making use of the new
screening mechanism on foreign direct investments or by governments buying
stakes.
15. Strengthen economic resilience by
(re)building strategic value chains inside
the EU, by
supporting industrial alliances, by
reintegrating supply chains
inside the EU, by
increasing their self-sufficiency (e.g. through circular
economy), by
supporting domestic production of strategic equipment.
16.
EU Competition and state aid mechanism should be adapted to allow for the
safeguard of essential sectors’ production in the EU.
17.
Need for more sustainable business. A reflection on business models and
value chains is key, as offshoring is effective, but creates great fragility. This
implies to:
a. Apply the principle according to which business should be accountable
for the adverse effect of their operations on workers, people, communities
and environment.
b. Regulate business models that are only directed towards shareholders
profits and short-termism to avoid their adverse effects on society.
c. Strengthen trade union and workers representation in business decision
process.
18.
Bailouts, especially with public money, must be conditional on financial
discipline (no dividend payment, no buyback of shares, no executive bonuses,
no tax avoidance or aggressive tax planning)
and social commitments (maintaining employment and quality working conditions).
Recovery plans and
bailouts should be developed through social dialogue, backed by collective
agreements that set out impact on employment and working conditions, promote
workers participation, and should be closely monitored by public authorities.
19.
Ensuring strong international coordination and reinforcing cooperation
and development programmes for neighbourhood countries and particularly
African countries both in the exit and in the recovery phase, with active
engagement of multilateral institutions, by
ensuring that EU financing is
beneficial to health care systems, companies and workers, and conditional
on the respect of human and social rights. Building a
more environmentally
and socially sustainable EU trade strategy, based on the same principles.
Conclusion
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Solidarity will be more crucial than ever in the coming months in helping maintain
convergence between Member States and to protect the European economy,
society and world of work.
In particular, we must do everything it takes to ensure that all Member States have
market access and funding at the lowest cost for their recovery plans.
Whilst financial support will provide an immediate boost to restarting our economies, we
will only deliver long-term stability, prosperity and cohesion if there is a renewed focus
at both EU and Member States level on ensuring that policies have a greater focus on
supporting investment, sustainable and inclusive growth, and high-quality employment.
European democracy, its economy and social cohesion are at stake. We need to
defend and strengthen the European project by building people’s trust and
showing that the EU is capable of protecting them in these very difficult times.
Brussels, 4 May 2020
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