News

On Friday 7 March 2014, in the run up to the European elections in May, European Trade Union Federations’ youth organisations launched a joint campaign to demand that EU institutions and employers put youth at the top of their agenda. Under the slogan “Enough of their crisis – back to our future”, the federations set out their demands for the next mandate of the European Parliament and Commission: immediate and effective action to release the mortgage the European crisis and policies take on young people’s future in the European labour market. The launch took place in Athens, Greece at a UNI Europa youth seminar.

The launch of the campaign took place in the country with the highest youth unemployment rate in Europe, 57.3% in July 2013, and thus the context in which the federations’ demands for European youth policies were presented demonstrated their high sense of urgency.

Actions at the workplace and EU level

With the creation of the so-called Youth Guarantee, the EU has reserved € 6 billion for the coming 7 years to stimulate youth employment. However, the federations state in a joint declaration that with an estimated cost of € 21 billion per year to set up an effective tool and without any enforcement measures for implementation on national level, the EU’s promise remains far from adequately tackling youth employment challenges.

In response, with this joint youth campaign involving actions at workplace level and at EU level, and on behalf of 30 million workers in Europe, the federations want to bring eight focal points for future EU youth policies to the attention of all candidates for the European elections.

Investment in quality jobs and training opportunities

Young people in today’s Europe face never-ending internships, precarious employment situations and the necessity to migrate to other EU countries in order to find work. Together with the increase of the pensionable age and reduced access to training and education thanks to austerity measures that have stalled public investment and caused social hardship throughout Europe, 7.5 million young people are out of work or training, with an estimated cost of € 150 billion in terms of benefits paid out and lost output.

“As of today, failing banks have received more than € 160 billion. It shows that the victims of the crisis are getting pennies while the culprits are offered the keys to the vault”, states the declaration.

“It is our common understanding that the creation of quality jobs and training opportunities has to be the number one priority of the newly elected Parliament and Commission,” say the federations.

Long term campaign for long term solutions

The European Trade Union Federations’ youth organisations will continue pushing EU institutions and employers via different actions to put youth at the top of their agenda in the run up to the European elections in May and after the installation of the new European Parliament and Commission.The lack of decisive actions taken by the European institutions so far and the extensive and long lasting consequences of youth unemployment in Europe necessitate a long-term campaign to claim back the future of young people. The federations’ actions and demands are complementary to the European Trade Union Confederation’s plan for investment, sustainable growth and quality jobs.

For more information, please contact

EFBWW: Werner Buelen +32 (0)475 84 06 48 or wbuelen@efbh.be

EFFAT: Dominique Mitchell +32 (0)490 56 94 05 or d.mitchell@effat.org

EPSU: Pablo Sanchez +32 (0)474 62 66 33 or psanchez@epsu.org

ETF: Koen Reynaerts +32 (0)470 93 05 90 or k.reynaerts@etf-europe.org

industriAll: +32 (0)473 865 884 or Mischa.Terzyk@industriall-europe.eu

Uni Europa: +32 (0)476 25 76 50 or cornelia.broos@uniglobalunion.org

The Joint ETUFs Declaration available in English and Greek is attached.

The Joint ETUFs Press Release available in English, French, German, and Greek is attached.

Jointly, the ETUFs set up a video elaborating further on the messaging of the Youth Campaign. It is available here: http://youtu.be/3w-F5Eu57bk