High noon for Europe as unions call for investment to ‘kick start’ the recovery

Ahead of this week's European TUC mid-term conference in Dublin, European Union leaders have called for a new European Recovery Plan to kick-start economic growth.

Ahead of this week’s European TUC mid-term conference in Dublin, European Union leaders have called for a new European Recovery Plan to kick-start economic growth.

Using the theme ‘High Noon For Social Europe’, the ETUC will propose alternative policies designed to restore growth, tackle unemployment, stop the erosion of the European social model and build a fairer Europe.

General secretary of the Irish Congress Of Trade Unions David Begg said the conference provided a “crucial opportunity for European trade unions to demonstrate that there are coherent and concrete alternatives to the destructive policies currently being imposed by diktat”.

“Trust and confidence in the very worth of the European project have been eroded and undermined in recent years – not least among trade unions – because we have seen the European Social Model undermined and weakened,” he added.

Begg also called for a recovery plan focusing on job creation, youth unemployment and long term decent jobs.

General secretary of the European TUC Bernadette Ségol has criticised the attacks on the European Social Model saying there had been no movement towards a social Europe only deregulation and attacks on workers pay and conditions.

She slammed the “empty rhetoric of EU leaders”, who talked about stimulating growth and going beyond but concentrated on “structural reforms” which are designed to weaken the social model.

“Social Europe must be at the core of all economic decisions. Social Europe is not an optional appendage to economic governance, Social Europe is part and parcel of economic governance,” she said.

With workers and unions across the EU facing attacks on collective bargaining structures, de-regulation and weakening of employment rights, pressure needs to continue to be placed on the EU to stop blind support for further de-regulation, attacks on employment rights and collective bargaining by the Trokia of the IMF, ECB and the EU Commission.

Ongoing destruction of employment protections and the dismantling of the European Social Model will mean increasing anti-EU sentiment, the rise of right-wing parties in Europe and still more unrest on the streets as unemployment and joblessness among young people remains at an all time high.

A look back to the events of the 1930s sets out the consequences of blindly following zombie austerity policies.

One Response to “High noon for Europe as unions call for investment to ‘kick start’ the recovery”

  1. Eso-Policier

    Multikulti must be stopped. And Wales must be independent. Read more
    http://www.esopolice.wordpress.com

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