EU: “We need a pay rise for social and macroeconomic reasons”, interview with Luca Visentini, General Secretary of ETUC

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) launched a campaign on 14 February 2017 to demand a pay rise for workers throughout Europe. For its General Secretary Luca Visentini, the European Union should not wait any longer.
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  • Why did you decide to launch a campaign for a pay rise?

Luca Visentini. We faced, during the crisis, an incredible drop in wage growth all over Europe, mainly due to austerity measures. But it was the wrong solution; it didn’t succeed in helping the economy to recover. We think that a different and completely alternative macroeconomic policy is needed. It should promote investment (public investment in particular) and boost internal demand through a pay rise. This is the best tool to tackle i

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