By Manus O'Riordan, EESC Workers’ Group
The European Economic & Social Committee’s plenary meeting in Brussels on 14th and 15th November coincided on its first day with the Belgian unions’ day of action against austerity. Accordingly, our EESC Workers’ Group meeting was adjourned so that we could join the protest outside the European Commission headquarters. Stirring speeches in both French and Flemish were delivered by leaders of the various Belgian Union Confederations, as well by the ETUC General Secretary. Particularly noteworthy at this demonstration was the strong Spanish union presence from both the Comisiones Obreras and the UGT, many carrying Spanish Republican flags, an indication of the deep divisions opening up in Spanish society as a consequence of relentlessly vicious austerity.
The proceedings of the EESC plenary meeting itself had both positive and negative outcomes. An excellent opinion on job-rich recovery, drafted by the German trade unionist and Head of the DGB’s European Policy Department, Gabriele Bischoff, was almost unanimously adopted. It recognised that while “employment policy cannot compensate for mismanagement of macroeconomic policy, it can make a real contribution to boosting competitiveness in knowledge-based societies, by strengthening innovation capacity, and achieving a better balance between demand for, and supply of, skills.” It warned: “Persistently high youth unemployment in the EU is especially worrying. It stands at more than 22%. Here, too, there are big differences between the Member States. In Spain and Greece it is over 50%; in some Member States (Portugal, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Italy and Ireland), it is around 30%. Only in three Member States (Germany, Austria and the Netherlands) is it below 10%.”
In line with demands also articulated by our own ICTU, the opinion further called for the State to act as an employer of last resort: “The EESC recommends that the Member States pay particular attention to setting up an inclusive intermediate labour market in which public resources create an appropriate number of suitable jobs to ensure that the long-term unemployed remain in touch with the world of work and improve their knowledge. This will prevent poverty caused by loss of contact with the labour market from increasing and enable these people to make a smooth transition into the open labour market once the crisis is over.” It went on to emphasise the role of public investment programmes: “Growth and employment policy cannot be viewed in isolation from one another. That is why the Committee has repeatedly called for a European stimulus package with a comprehensive impact on labour market policy, amounting to 2% of GDP… Alongside additional national investments to boost the impact on employment, which should be implemented in a coordinated fashion, European investment projects must also be identified… There should be a special focus on securing labour market transitions, particularly during restructuring processes.”
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