EFFAT

08/07/2008
European Commission unveil proposal for a revised EWC Directive
The Commission's long-awaited proposal for a revised EWC Directive was unveiled on 2 July 2008 as part of a social package including other measures, notably a major initiative on discrimination. On initial examination it is rather disappointing although it could have been worse. You can see the Commission Proposal http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1073&type=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en For more on the Parliamentary procedure look: http://ec.europa.eu/codecision/stepbystep/text/index_en.htm

24/06/2008
VION provokes a strike in Südfleisch in Germany
Press release. The participants of the IUF (International Foodworkers Trade Unions Federation) global meat conference express their solidarity with the workers from Südfleisch, a German subsidiary of the Dutch group VION-Food, in their fight against company management's actions. Delegates present in the conference unanimously agreed that it is unacceptable that one of the biggest meat processor in the world is unwilling to look for a mutually agreed negotiated solution to the issues that have led to conflict at Südfleisch...

12/06/2008
EFFAT NEWS May-June 2008
• High-Level Group on Agro-food Competitiveness • Climate change, a continuous challenge and its implication for the food sector • The Laval, Viking and Rüffert cases • Temporary Work Agencies • Responsible awarding of contracts • EFSA opinions must include the risk’ assessment for both consumers and workers • Transparency: publication of a list of all EU agricultural subsidy recipients by April 2009 • Meeting of the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee on “Agriculture” Working Group • Next EFFAT meetings •

03/06/2008
Press release: impact of the tobacco reform on employment
Joint initiative of the European Social Partners of Agriculture (EFFAT and GEOPA -COPA) to promote alternatives for workers and producers who have lost their jobs as a result of the European tobacco reform

09/05/2008
Proceedings of the European seminar of ALPA on social Agriculture
ALPA carried out end of 2008 in Rocca di Papa and Grottaferrata(close to Rome/Italy) a European seminar on the topic: "Social agriculture: new frontiers of multi-functionality in agriculture" This seminar was organized in collaboration with EFFAT and received the financial support of the European Commission (DG Agriculture & Rural Development). For further information, proceedings, speeches and evaluation report, see the following link: http://www.alpainfo.it

Main results of the ALPA seminar on social agriculture (February 2008)

Principaux résultats du séminaire de l'ALPA sur l'agriculture sociale (02/2008)

Valutazione del seminario sull'agricoltura sociale

Volantino sintetizzando i risultati del seminario ALPA sull'agricoltura sociale

30/04/2008
Sugar sector - It is the European Commission’s turn to hold its word
In 2005, the EU Council and the European Parliament adopted a major reform of the common market organization for sugar. They set a goal to reduce EU quotas production by 6 million tonnes, in order to drastically decrease E.U. exports and make room on its domestic market for increased sugar imports from the Least Developed Countries. The stakeholders of the sugar sector respected their initial commitments. It is now up to the Commission and the decision-makers in the Council and the Parliament to hold their word and consolidates the restructured EU sugar market in the multilateral or bilateral trade negotiations and certainly not to finish it off

25/04/2008
Joint Press Release 'Responsible awarding of contracts'
“The awarding of public and private contracts for services in the catering, cleaning, private security and for the textile sectors should be carried out in a socially responsible way” was the message of a conference organised on 18 April 2008, in Brussels, by the European Commission and the European social partners of the contract catering sector (FERCO/EFFAT), the private security sector (CoESS/UNI-Europa), the cleaning industry sector (EFCI/UNI-Europa) and the clothing and textiles sector (EURATEX/ETUF-TCL), representing 7.3 million workers and generating a turn-over of 300 billion euros. The joint declaration “Towards Responsible Awarding of Contracts” signed at the closure of the conference calls upon public and private contractors to select the economically and socially most advantageous offer rather than the lowest bid, taking into consideration quality criteria such as competencies of the service provider, environmental and sustainable aspects, working conditions, respect of labour standards, trade union rights, social legislation and collective agreements of workers along the supply chain.

EN-Joint Declaration-'Towards responsible awarding of contracts'-EN

FR-Déclaration conjointe- vers une passation de marchés responsable

Gemeinsame Erklärung-'Hin zu einer Verantwortungsbewussten Vergabe von Aufträgen

25/04/2008
EFFAT NEWS
SPECIAL EDITION: Revision of EWC Directive

11/04/2008
EFFAT welcomes ETUC reponse to EWC Consultation
Today the ETUC wrote to Commisioner Spidla to say that that the small amount of time left for new business under this Parliament should be used by the Commission to proceed along the lines of its proposal for EWC revision. By taking this position the ETUC has left the European social partners open to make their inputs into the legislative process without creating potentially disastrous delays to that process in the unrealistic hope of reaching a quick and acceptable agreement through European social dialogue. EFFAT has welcomed the ETUC’s decision (see EFFAT statement) and commends its many detailed observations on the consultation document to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Member States.

ETUC antword DE

ETUC Letter EN

ETUC réponse FR

ETUC Response EN

16/03/2008
Press release: European agricultural workers‘ unions celebrate their 50th anniversary
Back in 1958, national union representatives met up in Rapallo, Italy, to discuss the consequences of the Treaties of Rome concluded the previous year. Fifty years on, the sons and grandchildren of the founders returned to Rapallo to discuss the future of the CAP, demand that agricultural workers be involved in it, and find solutions to the current problems of employment facing rural Europe.