Just ahead of the start of negotiations for a European framework agreement on telework, the president of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) Laurent Berger takes this opportunity to share with mind RH the roadmap for the organisation, of which the CFDT is a member. The right to disconnect, monitoring, and health and safety, are but a few of a wealth of the topics for discussion in order to reach an agreement; not least since the last European text on telework dates back two decades to 2002. With just a few months before the end of his mandate, Laurent Berger defends the role of trade unionism and European social dialogue in the face of the increasing number of crises.
What made it possible that this time there is agreement in principle on a text regulating telework at European level?
The European Trade Union Confederation pushed really hard for it. Telework, which concerns 30 million workers in Europe, has to be regulated in a coherent and harmonised way, and it was important that European social dialogue should take its place. The latest social advances have stemmed from EU Commission initiatives, such as for instance the minimum wage. Through the ETUC we are committed, with the social agenda, to negotiating a framework agreement, which is intended to become a European directive. I have over the past few years been known to be harsh with European employers, who have been more inclined to lobby than to engage in social dialogue, and as such I certainly welcome this change of direction.
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Article authors
Antoine Piel
Section Head at Mind HR