News

The social partners of the hairdressing sector, UNI Europa and Coiffure EU together with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), have sent an open letter to the European Commission, the Council of Ministers for Employment and Social Protection and to the European Parliament on the European Framework Agreement on the protection of occupational health and safety in the hairdressing sector.

The letter follows comments by President Juncker at the ETUC Extraordinary Executive Committee on the future of Europe this November. There, he questioned the merits of the social partners joint request for transpose the health and safety agreement into EU law.

As a matter of fact, the agreement provides a triple win situation by improving health and safety protection of workers as well as reducing health related costs for the employers and social security systems.

UNI Europa, Coiffure EU and the ETUC are calling on the Commission to stop stalling and to refer the Hairdressers Agreement to Council for legislation.

Workers and employers are asking why the Commission has not acted on their agreement on hairdressers’ health and safety. Are they too small a group, too unimportant economically or too female and too easy a targets for ridicule. The Commission could be wrong: over 1 million hairdressing workers matter – for trade unions, for everyone.

Read the full letter to President Juncker

Check out UNI Europa ‘not better’ campaign