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UNI Europa Regional Secretary Oliver Roethig, commenting on the first anniversary of the EU Social Pillar, said a real commitment to sectoral collective bargaining was necessary, if the initiative was to succeed for workers.

Roethig said, “In a year we have not seen all that much – it’s like a brightly shining birthday candle without the cake. The cake still needs to be baked.”

The UNI Europa Regional Secretary said the European Commission’s President Jean-Claude Juncker had fallen a long way short of the promises made at the start of the Commission.

“Juncker promised a ‘Triple A Social Europe’. Four years we haven’t seen real progress and that needs to change. We have a last chance over the next 6 months to make progress. What we aim at as, UNI Europa, the European services union, is that we have single market that serves the workers and the citizens first.

“We demand from the Commission a social action programme with legislation and politics that really bring forward the well-being of workers: quality jobs; decent jobs and for this we need concrete action.”

Roethig recognised that for the present Commission time was running out but said unions wanted to see a commitment to sectoral bargaining before the European elections. Sectoral bargaining was essential to build a Europe for the future with decent working conditions for all, democracy and global competitiveness.
 
“When we do this, we have a chance to bake the cake together with trade unions, employers, the Commission and member states, so that next time around we can have two bright shining candles with a real birthday cake,” concluded Roethig.