Published Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 12:41
by
Gregory 
in New Social Europe (1043 views and 1 comments)
Commençons par une
bonne nouvelle : les européens vivent de plus en plus longtemps.
En moyenne, l’espérance de vie augmente de trois mois par an en
Europe. Une société qui vit plus longtemps ne va, a priori, pas
si mal.
Continuons par une moins bonne nouvelle : les européens n’assurent pas le renouvellement des générations. En effet, il faudrait une moyenne supérieure à 2 enfants par femme pour que cela soit le cas et nous en sommes loin. Avec des taux de fécondité de seulement 1,25 en Espagne, en Italie, en République Tchèque et en Pologne, la situation est parfois très inquiétante.
Le vieillissement de la population européenne aura dans les prochaines années des conséquences économiques et sociales très lourdes. Une pénurie de main d’œuvre et de matière grise qui fragilisera la croissance économique. L’augmentation du coût des soins médicaux et des retraites et les inégalités qui en découleront.
Face à ce défi démographique, l’Europe doit remettre en question sa...
read morePublished Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 09:33
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (757 views and 1 comments)
Check them here with Conny Reuter, Secretary General of Solidar.
read more
Published Friday, June 27, 2008 at 09:53
by
chourka
in New Social Europe (714 views and 1 comments)
Voilà une idée
originale portée par les camarades du SP.a qui mériterait d'être
étudiée sérieusement et pourquoi pas reprise dans notre manifeste
électoral.
De quoi s'agit-il exactement ?
On sait que les forces de police sont coordonnées au niveau européen par EUROPOL pour ce qui concerne les questions liées aux trafics en tout genre, le terrorisme. Bien que cette institution naissante aurait besoin de moyens pour fonctionner efficacement, elle a le mérite d'exister.
Ce que propose nos camarades belges, c'est que dans le domaine social, une sorte d'inspection européenne du Travail soit mise en place et que celle-ci puisse contrôler le respect au sein des Etats-membres des droits sociaux dans le but d'éviter le dumping social.
Dans de nombreuses contributions, revient également l'idée d'une harmonisation vers le haut des droits sociaux. Parfois avec des variations comme celle sur l'imposition d'un salaire minimum européen. Le SP.a ne précise pas comment il l'imagine son application quand la Fédération de Paris indique qu'il doit être calculé en fonction de l'échelle nationale des...
read morePublished Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 09:48
by
franciscopolo
in New Social Europe (950 views and 1 comments)
On 10 June the Labour
Ministries of the European Union agreed the possibility of
enlarging the work journey to 60 hour or, eventually, 65 hours if
the company and the worker agree to do so.
The reaction in Spain: this is a clear attack to the Social Europe we are trying to achieve and we are not going to assume it easily.
Today in Europe, the maximum work journey is set at 48 hours per week. It was set this way by the International Labour Organisation in 1917. According to Lourdes Muñoz a recognised socialist blogger in Spain:
This Directive will eliminate the right to rest during the continued working journeys, it attempts against the safety and health at the work place and difficult the conciliation of personal and working life.
The promoters of this initiative affirm that this Directive will implement the freedom to individually negotiate the length of our own working journey but as we all know theory is theory and there will be no negotiation. Individualisation of the working relations will break balance.
Fighting in favour of...
read morePublished Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 09:25
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (755 views and 0 comments)
Don’t give up on New Social Europe!
The European social model needs to be renovated but its bases must be preserved. While we debate the reform of the European social model, we need to also debate the reform of globalisation. This includes, for example, the need for national and international redistribution and the need to stop the race to the bottom, both in taxes (so that states can afford good education and welfare for everyone) by initiating an international tax-cooperation, and in social standards by starting international cooperation to raise them.
We need concrete measures to ensure globalisation is politically controlled, such as a single EU representation in international financial institutions, the establishment of a UN Economic Security Council, and an efficient control over tax havens
Tackling social insecurity
read morePublished Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 14:25
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (664 views and 0 comments)
Members of the Romanian Social Democratic Party met to debate the PES manifesto2009 and the future of the European left.
The first day the Romanian social democratic foundation ‘Ovidiu Sincai’ invited for a debate at their headquarters in Bucharest. Around 30 students, intellectuals and party members took part in the meeting and shared their ideas for the future of social democracy in Europe. Among the speakers was the Director of Ovidiu Sincai Anne Juganaru, MEP Titus Corlatean and PES Secretary-General Philip Cordery.
On the second day the discussions moved to Brasov for a seminar for Romanian PES activists. Even though the event took place short time before the local elections, around 100 Romanian activists showed up to discuss the PES manifesto on ‘Europe Day’, 9 May. The PES Secretary-General insisted on the link between local problems and European solutions and expressed on this occasion support to PSD local candidate in Brasov.
Another hot topic was the free movement of workers and how mobility can be a threat to social and workers’ rights. The Romanian activists concluded that free movement and social rights should not be seen as opposites, but instead go hand in...
read morePublished Monday, June 9, 2008 at 21:03
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (653 views and 0 comments)
No differences between
workers from the West and the East. This was one of the conclusions
of the debate organized by the Latvian Social Democratic Workers Party (LSDSP)
on the “New Social Europe” and the PES manifesto.
The debate, a two-day event that that took place late April, gathered participants from the party in Riga. Among the speakers was Philip Cordery, Secretary-General of the PES, who presented the PES report on “New Social Europe”. This set off a discussion on the recent ‘Laval case’ where Swedish trade unions took action against a Latvian construction company in Sweden, violating collective agreements. The case was brought to the European Court of Justice which delivered a controversial ruling: Swedish trade unions cannot oblige a foreign company posting workers in Sweden to observe collective bargaining agreements. The 80 meeting participants stated their support for the position of the PES and agreed that Latvians working abroad should be entitled to the same rights as local workers.
There were also other ideas put forward for the PES manifesto:
Published Friday, June 6, 2008 at 11:14
by
Richard_Falbr
in New Social Europe (645 views and 0 comments)
In 1990 the Czech
trade unionists had to solve a difficult task: how to transform or
create trade unions which should be recognized by trade unions in
democratic states?
In the totalitarian regimes the trade unions were a transmition belt of the communist party. They existed as a kind of social institution organizing holidays and socialist emulation. They were something like the vertical unions in Spain during the Franco's regime. There was no collective bargaining, and the only positive element of their attitude was the free of charge representation of the members before tribunals in labour disputes. After the great General Strike in November 1989 Strike Committees were created and then the Coordination Centre of the strike committees was created in the capital of Moravia, Brno. So a parallel structure with the former communist "Revolutionary Trade Union Movement" was born. At congresses in January 1990 sixty unions were established. Then in March the Czechoslovak confederation of trade unions was created. The Confederation became the member of the ICFTU in May 1999.
The important result of the Congress which was free, democratic and supervised by observers from trade unions of democratic states was unique: the new trade union structures took over all the...
read morePublished Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 11:50
by
Richard_Falbr
in New Social Europe (755 views and 0 comments)
The golden
sixties, era when the Unions had the greatest influence and
success, will probably never come back. Those were the days when
the Unions in democratic states helped to increase the standards of
living of the workers, and even diminished the difference between
the white and the blue collar workers.
The Unions helped to create the European social model. Backed by the ILO, the Tripartite organization created after the end of the First World War, the Unions together with the employer's organizations and governments which did not want to risk another Great October Revolution adopted conventions later ratified by the majority of democratic states. And so the conventions on the right to organize the working time, the ban of slavery, the right of collective bargaining, were considered and respected as rules of the civilized and democratic world.
Fall of the ILO
After the fall of the Berlin Wall the enemy which was behind it suddenly appeared among us. And the influence of the ILO and its control mechanisms began to fail.
read morePublished Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 09:55
by
Richard_Falbr
in New Social Europe (796 views and 1 comments)
The Czechs welcome the
declaration of president Sarkozy. The opening of the market however
does not mean that the Czechs will rush to France. We are very
conservative and we do not move even from regions where the
unemployment rates are high to regions where there is lack of work
force.Published Monday, June 2, 2008 at 16:50
by
jose reis santos
in New Social Europe (584 views and 0 comments)
Today, the Portuguese Secretary of State Fernando Medina takes the floor to present some of his ideas on the “New Social Europe”!
In a time where all over Europe people are presenting proposals for the common European manifesto for the 2009 election, the work developed by the PES activists in Portugal should be praised. I believe that we will have the necessary ideas to build a political agenda that will reinforce the social dimension of the European project. For example, we need to insist in the battle for a European minimum wage, as a protection mechanism, and to appeal to people. Naturally, each country has the liberty to adjust their measures regarding this issue but they should do so respecting common criteria. If most European countries already have this kind of measures, why can’t we give them a political hype, with the necessary visibility attached? We can actually make the same with the struggle against poverty and exclusion, especially when concerning children and youth. This is a crucial dimension in the sustainability of our social and economical models because it reinforces the cohesion dimension of our citizenship; because it fights the spread of poverty and maximizes the human and labor potential of our societies. These themes show that the politics of equality of opportunities should go beyond the non-discrimination approach.
Another issue is active aging and...
read morePublished Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 09:31
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (818 views and 0 comments)
As a Hungarian it is
quite interesting to observe the differences in life expectancy
between European countries: In average men from Scandinavian
countries live six years longer than men from Hungary. In this
respect the Scandinavians offer a role model; it is easier to
reconciliate work and private life for both women and men. If
Hungarian men worked less and had the opportunity to take a fairer
share of the family responsibility they would live longer.Published Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 10:20
by
amandinecrespy
in New Social Europe (636 views and 0 comments)
Les « travailleurs
pauvres » ne sont pas des gens qui gagnent un petit salaire. Les «
travailleurs pauvres » sont des gens qui ne peuvent pas vivre de
leur travail, c’est-à-dire qu’ils ne peuvent pas se nourrir, payer
la cantine scolaire de leurs enfants, ou se loger décemment. Les
signes d’une forte poussée de la pauvreté dans la plupart des pays
européens sont alarmants. De plus en plus de gens qui travaillent
habitent dans des caravanes ou même des bidonvilles nouvelle
génération en périphérie des grandes villes, vont faire la queue
aux distributions de vivre par des organisations de charité, ou
cumulent – de manière illégale – deux jobs et travaillent bien plus
de quarante heures semaine pour pouvoir joindre les deux bouts.
Dans de nombreux pays européens, le niveau des salaires n’est pas
connecté à la réalité du coût de la vie. Il n’est pas tolérable que
des gens qui travaillent et payent des impôts soient relégués au
rang d’indigents parce que, sous les conditions du capitalisme
global d’aujourd’hui, la pression est mise principalement sur le
coût du travail.Published Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 11:35
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (876 views and 1 comments)
For International Workers' Day Yourspace welcomes the European Trade Union Confederation - or ETUC in short - to have their say! Advisor Ronald Janssen shares ETUC's visions for the PES manifesto:
Read the written contribution from ETUC here.
What do you think is the most significant challenge for workers'
rights in Europe?
Published Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 10:13
by
brianfrombrussels
in New Social Europe (1007 views and 3 comments)
For people who like to know
what their fellow earthmen think of the world's affairs, nothing
can match an elevator. Your local pub or the back seat of a cab
are close competitors for sure, but still they don't quite make
it in front of an elevator. Well, perhaps I'm biased, considering
that I happen to spend more time in elevators than in cabs or at
my local lately.
Anyway, every month around the 15th whatever elevator I take, the
conversation between commuters seems to roll over the same topic:
the rent is paid, electricity and heating bills are gone and
various other charges dealt with and... well, so is the month's
money. Gone, vanished, not a euro in front of them - not to
mention any to be put on the side in prevision of worth days to
come. It seems that the only power left to the working class in
our liberal society, that is the purchase power, is melting away
like wax under the sun. And the regulars of my elevator are
usually civil servants, mind you. I guess you'd hear less
pleasant stories from elevators with a very different attendance
- steel workers from Mr. Mittal's group, for instance.
Even from the most cynical point of view, this can't go on. The
driving force behind our western economies is consumption. If the
people don't have the money to consume, well, it's quite easy:
the system collapses. And it's...
Published Friday, April 11, 2008 at 16:35
by
martina
in New Social Europe (1479 views and 6 comments)
According to Eurostat a woman in Europe earns, in average, 15
percent less than her male colleague. With 22 percent difference
Germany takes a sad lead when it comes to pay inequality – on the
management level it is even worse (33 percent). Only a few
countries have taken action against this inequity.
The purpose of the international action day for equal
opportunities and equal pay, which has already taken place in the
US and Belgium, is to create awareness of this problem – and soon
there will also be actions in Germany. The German Network of
Business and Professional Women has taken the initiative for the
Equal Pay
Day on 15 April 2008 where the network, together with many
other women’s organizations, will organize numerous actions.
One of the activities of the German Equal Pay Day will be
‘Red Bag’
– which was already put into practice last summer in connection
with the European year of equal opportunities. At that time the
initiative went rather unnoticed by the general public - I don’t
remember having heard about it before now.
Every woman can take part in the ‘Red Bag’ action...
Tags: blogger of the week, equality, women, workers
File:
Equal Pay Day_DE.pdf
Published Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 10:44
by
noelhatch
in New Social Europe (960 views and 3 comments)
Deborah Littman, Chair of London
Citizens Living Wage Network & UNISON
National Officer for Bargaining, at the New Social Europe debate in London, admitted she wholly agreed with many of
the proposals made in the New Social Europe discussion paper. But she
was concerned on how we get there, how we make social Europe a
concern for everyone.
Work has been made insecure, the social wage has been reduced and
there has been a steep decline in bargaining power from workers.
Communities have been dismantled, workers distanced from their
employers or contractors. There has been a very deliberate policy
to push back the gains of the workers, often by stealth.
Expectations have been constantly lowered to the extent that our
goal becomes not how we can make it better, but how can we
prevent it being that bad. How can you organise when you don’t
know who you’re actually working for? The trade unions struggle
with bargaining, sometimes too conservative in their approach.
The game has changed – we need to...
Published Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at 12:40
by
noelhatch
in New Social Europe (947 views and 0 comments)
To see more proposals and the debate please see the video below:
To read more:
Published Friday, April 4, 2008 at 11:43
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (909 views and 0 comments)
What is the future
of social democracy in Estonia and Europe? This was the big
question posed at conference in Tallinn, Estonia Friday 28
March?. More than 200 people took the opportunity to discuss how
Europe’s social democrats should approach the future. Many
prominent guests were among the speakers: Toomas Hendrik Ilves,
President of the Republic of Estonia, Ivari Padar, leader of the
Estonian Social Democratic Party, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, PES
President and Zita Gurmai, President of PES Women.
During the speech of the PES President he invited all Estonian
social democrats to share their ideas for the PES manifesto – at
the conference as well as here on Yourspace. With only 1.4
million citizens this Baltic country is one of Europe’s smallest
nations, but there are certainly lots of visions and ideas to be
found in Estonia.
A much debated topic was the introduction of ‘flexicurity’ in
Estonia and the rest of Europe. Flexicurity is a combination of
flexibility and social security. Successfully combining
flexibility and high social benefits leads to both economic
growth and high employment – as in the case of Denmark where
flexicurity was introduced in the 1990s. Unfortunately,
conservatives often view flexicurity as an excuse just to
introduce more liberal labour laws....
Published Wednesday, April 2, 2008 at 09:16
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (976 views and 0 comments)
On the 11 March 2008 Labour Movement for Europe held a debate on
"Globalisation in the Community - how can we
shape a Social Europe?" This was the third of six manifesto
debates in London. One of the PES activists in London has
submitted videos from the debate to the PES manifesto group on
YouTube. Here is Deborah Littman, Chair of London
Citizens Living Wage Network and UNISON
National Officer:
Find more videos from the debate here
read more
Published Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 11:45
by
yoan.abiven
in New Social Europe (841 views and 1 comments)
The strike decided
by the Romanian workers in the Dacia plants ishows how much we
need to consolidate a Social Europe. The wages and working
conditions are the new adjustment variables of the new
international division of labour, even within the Union's Member
States. Employment is awarded to those deserving workers who are
ready to work a lot and earn little. The workers in Dacia want a
substantial increase in their wages, arguing that there is a lack
of workforce in Romania, and that is now starting to hit the car
manufacturing industry.
I am very happy to witness this social movement in Romanie. In
the end, this is a good sign of the successful integration of
this country in the Western economic area and the beginning of
its bridging its social and economic gap with the rest of Europe.
Under these conditions, an economic development founded on better
social conditions is more conceivable. Changes are underway in
the Romanian production system and for the better: the lack of
skills on which the present system is based seems to be on the
verge of disappearing. The EU should accompany these
transformations with strong social and modern policies in order
to anticipate the needs and also pave the way for social dialogue
and the organisation of social partners so that they can be put
at the heart of all these young democracies in the...
Published Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 11:03
by
phoenix999
in New Social Europe (1480 views and 12 comments)
Hello,
A few months ago I had to change my cell phone and I purchased a Nokia phone. After that, I learned that Nokia was leaving Germany with the money of the Germans, leaving Germany for Romania because salaries and wages there were, in euros, FOUR times lower. "What a social Europe !" I said to myself then. If I had known that piece of news earlier, I would have joined the Germans in the Nokia boycott. Anyway I signed the German petition FOR the boycott. But things are changing and Europe is not just a huge market place, not yet : the Romanian automobile workers have decided to go on strike because their wages were too LOW whereas the auto company was making a huge profit with their low standard cars. There, we have two choices left, yes WE, us, Europeans, have one alternative:
- Either we choose to follow the media and think : Let's keep these poor fellas underpaid, because there will be a big competition with Morocco or India or whatever, and there, they pay even lower salaries (when and where, in the World, does it end ?);
- Or, we decide to make a political DECISION : We agree on a decent minimum wage across the whole European Union and we, Europeans, TAX importations from the poor countries where they pay their salaried slaves literally nothing and exploit women and small children. This is our last chance if we want a social Europe and there, as an exception to the rule, I'll quote George W Bush : ' Our living standards are...
read morePublished Friday, March 14, 2008 at 16:02
by
Editor
in Save our planet (885 views and 0 comments)
At yesterday’s meeting of socialist and
social democratic prime ministers smart green growth was one of the
big topics.Published Friday, March 14, 2008 at 11:52
by
AnneSofie
in EU in the world (1211 views and 0 comments)
The manifesto theme
'EU in the
world' was also on the agenda when PES activists from Denmark, Sweden and Norway met in
Jørlunde, Denmark on March 1st and 2nd. Here are a few
conclusions from this dedicated discussion group:
Published Friday, March 14, 2008 at 09:24
by
PES Group - CoR
in New Social Europe (1256 views and 1 comments)
Within the
framework of the consultation for the elaboration of a PES
Manifesto for the 2009 European elections, the PES Group is
organising a seminar to encourage a broad exchange of views on
the major challenges for the PES political family for shaping a
genuine Social Europe. It will take place at the
Headquarters of the Committee of the Regions
(Room 62, Jacques Delors Building, Rue Belliard 101, 1040
Brussels), on 8 April 2008 (09h30-13h00).
The seminar will be opened by the President of the PES Group, Mercedes BRESSO, and by Michel DELEBARRE, 1st Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions.
Anna DIAMANTOPOULOU , Member of the Greek Parliament and former Member of the European Commission in charge of Employment and Social Affairs, will address the keynote speech on the Perspectives for a post-2010 EU global strategy.
The seminar will focus on five key themes: the social dimension of the Lisbon strategy, the demographic challenge, the response to restructuring, the role of services of general interest and the challenge of social inclusion (see...
read morePublished Friday, February 22, 2008 at 13:49
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (1130 views and 1 comments)
On average European
women earn 15 percent less than men. Today is the 22. February –
the day where working women will have earned a wage equal to the
yearly salary of working men. That’s almost two months longer women
need to work to achieve the same income. Read more about the wage
inequalities here and give us your ideas - what can Europe’s
socialists do to shut the gender pay gap?Published Thursday, December 6, 2007 at 09:45
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (1253 views and 0 comments)
At the recent
PES Council in
Sofia politicians and activists met and discussed what a
common manifesto for Europe’s socialists and social democrats
should look like. Another of the roundtables on the first day of the Council
addressed the manifesto theme ‘New Social
Europe’.
PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen gave his ideas for priorities
in this theme:
Published Thursday, November 8, 2007 at 20:49
by
jonathanbishop
in New Social Europe (1302 views and 1 comments)
Increasingly large
companies are saying that manufacturing plants are not making
enough profit and are inefficient. They give these as reasons to
close plants and relocate the jobs. This is affecting large
numbers of workers who are working their hardest for these profit
greedy enterprises who have disregard for social responsibility.
This is not sustainable, as the drive for greater integration means that workers will have a decent standard of living across the EU and these moves by large companies are causing instability in the common market.
The Acquired Rights Directive has given workers rights to have their contracts transferred when the company they are working for has been bought by another. The same legal base could be used to give workers who are going to lose their jobs because of a company closing the plant they work in the right to take over the plant by acquiring all the machinery and other equipment in a worker buyout to form for example a workers' co-operative.
read more
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