News

At the UNI Europa Commerce Conference in Gdansk, Poland, trade union leaders from all over Europe approved an action plan to strengthen the position of commerce workers in a new world of work.

UNI Europe Head of Commerce Laila Castaldo said: ‘Today, we have agreed an ambitious action plan for the commerce sector to be carried out together with affiliates all over Europe.’

The UNI Europa Commerce Action Plan focuses on

• Organising: Organise more commerce workers into trade unions and efficiently use European Works Councils and trade union alliances;
• Employer relations: Establish and develop constructive and successful labour relations with multinational companies at all levels;
• Global Framework Agreements: Promote the development of Global Framework Agreements, including leading global labour and human rights standards and effective dispute resolution mechanisms as well as evaluation and if necessary improvement of existing agreements;
• Working and employment conditions: enhance research and best practices on working and employment conditions with vis-a-vis new forms of work, e-commerce, franchising, new technologies and including training and skills development,  health and safety in workplaces and collective bargaining;
• Skills: Develop strategies to prevent a further deskilling of new jobs, to stop a polarisation among low skilled and high skilled workers and to promote equality between men and women;
• Wages: Work with affiliates to ensure living wages for everyone in all sectors, supply chains and geographical locations;
• Working time: Lead the debate on unsocial working hours, work-free Sundays and opening hours to raise awareness in civil society, consumers and politicians about the social and economic impacts.
• Advocacy: Influence European decision makers and other stakeholders with credible and in depth information;
• Social Dialogue: Strengthen European Social Dialogue and cooperation with the employer organisation Eurocommerce;

Read the full action plan here