European Trade Unions

Corporate lobbyists push for deregulation while workers pay the price Competitiveness has become the most abused word in Brussels. It is invoked to justify almost anything — except the one thing Europe actually needs: a strong industrial policy to build quality jobs, ...

The forthcoming #QualityJobsAct is a chance to put this vision into practice.

Real competitiveness is built on quality jobs & shared prosperity, not a race to the bottom.

🔗 Read Esther Lynch’s full op-ed.

euobserver.com/202737/corpo...

As Mario Draghi underlined: competitiveness today is about knowledge and skills, not wage repression.

Europe wins through high-quality jobs, strong public services and sustained productivity growth.

Cutting wages won’t fix the energy crisis.
Scrapping safety standards won’t stop relocations.
Repealing pay transparency won’t boost AI or innovation.

Europe’s crisis isn’t “too many rights.”
It’s too little planning and investment.

But not all employers support the removal of workers rights or wage cuts.

Over 1,200 companies backed a “Made in Europe” call:

👉 Public money must support European production
👉 Public money must create quality jobs

No demand for deregulation.

In recent months, it’s been open season for deregulation.

Gender pay transparency labelled a “burden.”
Workers’ rights to information on pay, hours and redundancies questioned behind closed doors.

Europe’s competitiveness challenge can only be solved by building a mission-led economy, one that:

🎯 sets clear priorities
🏦 mobilises the significant investment needed
👩🏻‍🔧 contributes to creating quality jobs
🤝 brings together employers, trade unions & governments

“Competitiveness” has become the most abused word in Brussels.

Instead of focusing on industrial strategy and shared prosperity, some are using it to argue for rolling back workers’ rights.

📰 NEW OP-ED

ETUC General Secretary @estherlynch.bsky.social sounds the alarm: Europe’s competitiveness debate is being hijacked by corporate lobbyists pushing deregulation.

The answer to Europe's real challenges is instead a mission-led economy built on investment and quality jobs. 🧵

Workers deserve their fair share. Increasing collective bargaining coverage raises wages and it’s not just social justice, it’s smart economics. Stronger pay means stronger internal demand. Our message to Europe’s Labour Ministers today: urgent to put the action plans in place to reach 80% coverage

Europe needs animal spirits again – and deregulation will not stimulate them - Foundation for European Progressive Studies Europe’s competitiveness debate is accelerating under a growing sense of urgency. Slowing growth, geopolitical rivalry […]

What Europe needs is a shared project that people can believe in – not a misguided business-led adjustment strategy and another abstract debate on competitiveness

Read @cmstahl.bsky.social article on The Progressive Post @feps-europe.eu 👇

feps-europe.eu/europe-needs...

Our message to Europe’s Labour Ministers today: urgent to put the action plans in place to reach 80% coverage.

wage-up.etuc.org

Workers deserve their fair share.

Increasing collective bargaining coverage raises wages and it’s not just social justice, it’s smart economics. Stronger pay means stronger internal demand.

"A shadow economy within the single market has been allowed to grow," warns ETUC General Secretary @estherlynch.bsky.social

@ec.europa.eu must ensure the Quality Jobs Act tackles abuse in subcontracting and labour intermediation. 🔗⤵️

Workers and their unions @efbww.bsky.social, @etf-europe.bsky.social and @effat.org have been mobilising to call out the exploitation and abuses they face in long and opaque subcontracting chains and labour intermediation that are too often used to shift responsibility and cut labour costs.

With today’s vote, the European Parliament calls for an EU framework to tackle abusive subcontracting chains & fraudulent labour intermediaries that are undermining workers’ rights and fair competition across Europe.

🧭 A mission-led economy built on quality jobs, industrial policy, social dialogue and strong public services is the only sustainable path forward.

Workers must be at the heart of Europe’s strategy.

⚠️ Europe is facing digitalisation, decarbonisation and geopolitical shocks.

The real competitiveness crisis is not “too many rights”, it is too little planning and investment.

That means an ambitious industrial policy with social conditionalities.
Public money must deliver public value.

✔️ Massive investments with a #MadeInEurope approach
A core part of the solution is on the table.

Companies & trade unions support a policy that ensures that when European public money is used, it builds European production, creates quality jobs and strengthens collective bargaining.

He makes clear the Single Market is more than a market.
Competitiveness must be built on quality jobs, collective bargaining and social conditionalities, not deregulation.

✔️ Every job must be a quality job

In his report on the future of the Single Market, Enrico Letta recognises that social dialogue is at the core of the European Social Model.

Competitiveness is not strengthened by cutting rights.

It is built on the societal wealth companies rely on every day:
🏫 Education & skills
🏥 Healthcare
⚡ Energy & digital networks
🚆 Infrastructure
⚖️ Rule of law

Businesses thrive in strong, cohesive societies, not weakened ones.

That means 👇

EU leaders must listen to the needs of working people.

General Secretary @estherlynch.bsky.social just met Enrico Letta ahead of his meeting with heads of governments at their retreat later today.

Here’s what is needed 👇

Europe needs an industrial policy for quality jobs in services UNI Europa calls on EU leaders to use this week’s informal meeting to back a mission-led European industrial policy that delivers quality jobs.

Social Europe, not deregulation, is our continent’s competitive advantage.

UNI Europa calls on EU leaders to use this week’s informal meeting to back a mission-led European industrial policy that delivers quality jobs in services.

Our call is for a strong industrial policy based on quality jobs, investments with social conditionalities, strong internal demand through higher wages, high-quality public services, and investment in our workforce.

📄⤵️

@estherlynch.bsky.social 📢 "Cutting protections and driving a race to the bottom is not a competitiveness strategy - it’s a mistake. Europe should build strength by investing in European industry, managing negotiated transformations in a fair and orderly way, and creating quality jobs.”

Echoing these concerns, @industrialleurope.bsky.social President Michael Vassiliadis said:

"The gap between the EU’s political narrative & the reality of workers is widening. Workers see closures, uncertainty and jobs at risk. If policymakers fail to address these issues, worker anxiety will grow"

Europe needs to raise investment in workers & companies through a real industrial policy – not lower standards.

“Europe is facing a real competitiveness challenge. But a genuine problem does not justify the wrong response," @estherlynch.bsky.social told political and industry leaders today.

This is a meaningful intervention that takes up long-standing trade union demands and it must be on the table in discussions at tomorrow's EU leaders' retreat.

It is crucial that measures to make Europe more competitive be based on people, investments and quality jobs and not on deregulation.

After the demonstration, a hearing in the EP brought together several political groups, all stressing the urgent need to curb exploitative subcontracting practices and tackle abusive intermediaries✊🇪🇺

#STOPEXPLOITATION #LIMITSUBCONTRACTING

@effat.org @etuc-ces.bsky.social @etf-europe.bsky.social