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The UK government has officially launched the start of the Brexit negotiations by triggering Article 50 of the EU Treaties.

Oliver Roethig, UNI Europa Regional Secretary, said: ‘UNI Europa and the entire European trade union movement demand the best possible deal for workers on both sides of the Channel , notably in terms of retaining EU employment and social rights and free movement of labour. Workers and citizens – in the UK and the rest of the EU - must not pay the price for Brexit.’

Together with the ETUC, UNI Europa is calling for

• the protection of jobs, living and working conditions, environment and consumer protection; including for the European Commission to secure a level playing field on which British working people’s rights cannot fall below – and undercut – the workplace rights which apply across the rest of Europe;
• the right to stay, work, move and continued rights to be immediately guaranteed to EU citizens in the UK and to UK citizens in the EU;
• the immediate establishment of funding to help counteract harmful consequences for jobs and communities;
• negotiations to deal with the specific situation of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and protect the Good Friday Agreement.

‘We are standing in solidarity with our colleagues and all workers in Britain’, added Oliver Roethig, ‘and I very much agree with the TUC that amongst others highlighted the needs for a level playing fields of workplace rights as well as for fair and swift moving ahead to avoid uncertainty for workers in- and outside the UK.’

Frances O'Grady, General Secretary of TUC: What Working People Want As Article 50 Is Triggered

ETUC Statement on the notification of the UK to withdraw from the European Union

Read the statement in French, German and Swedish