Published Friday, June 27, 2008 at 10:45
by
negrescuvictor 
(650 views and 2 comments)
The perspectives
regarding Europe seems to illustrate unfortunately the existence
of two different European visions, an Eastern and a Western point
of view. These differences can be easily seen in issues like
workers migration, economical delocalization, taxes, and the
enlargement process.
Workers migration
East: for countries from this side of Europe the freedom of movement is what Europe is all about. The people who migrate from our countries do so to build themselves a better live but also to help there families back home.
West: unfortunately the Eastern European migrants are presented as a problem and we as socialists have trouble fighting this point of view
Solution: building up a common point of view regarding migration- informing our national communities regarding the other European communities migrating and explaining the good effects that this brings on the economy
Economic delocalization
East: most of the Eastern European countries are in need of foreign investments to... » read more ...
Tags: blogger of the week, citizens, democracy, diversity, EU
Published Friday, June 27, 2008 at 09:53
by
chourka
(531 views and 1 comments)
Voilà une idée
originale portée par les camarades du SP.a qui mériterait d'être
étudiée sérieusement et pourquoi pas reprise dans notre manifeste
électoral.
De quoi s'agit-il exactement ?
On sait que les forces de police sont coordonnées au niveau européen par EUROPOL pour ce qui concerne les questions liées aux trafics en tout genre, le terrorisme. Bien que cette institution naissante aurait besoin de moyens pour fonctionner efficacement, elle a le mérite d'exister.
Ce que propose nos camarades belges, c'est que dans le domaine social, une sorte d'inspection européenne du Travail soit mise en place et que celle-ci puisse contrôler le respect au sein des Etats-membres des droits sociaux dans le but d'éviter le dumping social.
Dans de nombreuses contributions, revient également l'idée d'une harmonisation vers le haut des droits sociaux. Parfois avec des variations comme celle sur l'imposition d'un salaire minimum européen. Le SP.a ne précise pas comment il l'imagine son application quand la Fédération de Paris indique qu'il doit être... » read more ...
Tags: blogger of the week, employment, justice, wages, workers
Published Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 09:33
by
rikkeindenmark
(892 views and 10 comments)
And now for
something completely different – as Monty Python would say! I’m
moving away from gender issues and on to a completely different
topic, namely education.
I work in the university sector, where tuition fees are currently
a burning hot topic for debate. In my home country we have a long
tradition for free – or rather publicly funded – higher
education. The argument is that when higher education is free
everyone – regardless of social or economic background – has the
opportunity to take a university degree. Basically, as Danes see
it free education is a question of equality and equal access to
education.
However, in globalization the Danish higher education model is
challenged: Denmark is one of very few countries in the world
which does not have tuition fees (correct me if I’m wrong, but I
think there are only 10 countries worldwide with free higher
education!). University education is increasingly becoming
‘internationalized’: more and more universities cooperate across
borders to offer joint degrees; more and more students go abroad
on exchange or take a full degree abroad, etc. With more
cooperation across borders it gets more difficult for Denmark to
stick with the ‘no... »
read more ...
Tags: blogger of the week, education, equality, public services
Published Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 09:36
by
franciscopolo
(568 views and 2 comments)
Last week we had a
very good article at the Spanish PES Activists site that I would like to
share with you. It was writen by one of our activists in Madrid,
Nebulosa, who preferred to use a nickname for work related
reasons. The article treats an important subject:
A public debate has opened up again about the new way to govern Europe. Three countries held a referendum on the old treaty for a European constitution; and while it was approved in Spain, it was turned down both in Holland and France. The new Treaty of Lisbon is not being ratified via referendums but is subject to the approval by the different Parliaments of the member States. One exception should be noted: Ireland.
Ireland was the only country where a referendum was called, and its citizens decided to reject the Treaty. Maybe Irish voters did not take into consideration all the benefits that they have obtained from Europe, which have made their remarkable development possible. But what is happening in such Europhile countries as France and Holland for them to turn their back on building this new European Union?
Many citizens are having opposing feelings about how to build that Europe.... » read more ...
Tags: blogger of the week, citizens, democracy, EU
Published Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 11:56
by
Editor
(544 views and 1 comments)
Have you ever
imagined how many elderly can not afford to go on holidays and the
consequences on their wellbeing?Tags: elderly, human rights, manifesto
Published Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 09:48
by
franciscopolo
(740 views and 1 comments)
On 10 June the Labour
Ministries of the European Union agreed the possibility of
enlarging the work journey to 60 hour or, eventually, 65 hours if
the company and the worker agree to do so.
The reaction in Spain: this is a clear attack to the Social Europe we are trying to achieve and we are not going to assume it easily.
Today in Europe, the maximum work journey is set at 48 hours per week. It was set this way by the International Labour Organisation in 1917. According to Lourdes Muñoz a recognised socialist blogger in Spain:
This Directive will eliminate the right to rest during the continued working journeys, it attempts against the safety and health at the work place and difficult the conciliation of personal and working life.
The promoters of this initiative affirm that this Directive will implement the freedom to individually negotiate the length of our own working journey but as we all know theory is theory and there will be no negotiation. Individualisation of the working relations... » read more ...
Tags: blogger of the week, employment, workers
Published Monday, June 23, 2008 at 09:06
by
_EPSU_
(469 views and 0 comments)
Quality employment and quality public services and not “market obligations” should be the driving principles for the European Union in order to foster social inclusion, equality and solidarity.
The European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU) welcomes PES initiatives striving for better public services such as the call for a specific horizontal framework that should set out concrete quality standards and criteria. This horizontal legal framework, based on the public services protocol annexed to the Lisbon Treaty, could serve as a departure point for sectoral initiatives and could be an opportunity to give more scope for the inclusion of social and environmental criteria in public procurement contracts and in productivity indicators, to raise good administration, transparency, democratic control, to promote more gender equality and to guarantee equal access to public services.
Concerning employment, a “quality work” has to be preferred to a “flexisecurity approach”. In this respect, EPSU advocates fair working conditions, full rights and representation including better collective bargaining rights. There is also the need to do more in order to improve gender equality and to... » read more ...
Tags: employment, manifesto, public services
Published Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 12:04
by
Editor
(572 views and 0 comments)
Everyone is talking about the „New Social Europe“these days: it is one of the most important issues of the upcoming European elections, not only for European but also for German social democrats. On June 9 SPD chairman and manifesto2009 theme group leader Kurt Beck hosted an expert conference in Berlin. Together with Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (President of the PES), Walter Veltrony (chairman of the Democratic Party of Italy), Michael Sommer (head of the Confederation of German Trade Unions) and many others he discussed the challenges and future duties for the national states and the European Union in order to devise a European economic and social model for a globalized world.
SPD chairman declared the social Europe to be the central... » read more ...
Tags: EU, social dialogue
Published Monday, June 16, 2008 at 11:48
by
Editor
(533 views and 0 comments)
Low income and the unemployed are the most affected groups by chronic diseases and have lower life expectancy. European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) presents its suggestions for the manifesto2009 to tackle the problem.
Click here to read EPHA' contribution for the manifesto2009.
Tags: health, public services
Published Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 09:25
by
Editor
(604 views and 0 comments)
Don’t give up on New Social Europe!
The European social model needs to be renovated but its bases must be preserved. While we debate the reform of the European social model, we need to also debate the reform of globalisation. This includes, for example, the need for national and international redistribution and the need to stop the race to the bottom, both in taxes (so that states can afford good education and welfare for everyone) by initiating an international tax-cooperation, and in social standards by starting international cooperation to raise them.
» read more ...Tags: activists, barometer, employment, workers, youth
Published Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 14:25
by
Editor
(502 views and 0 comments)
Members of the Romanian Social Democratic Party met to debate the PES manifesto2009 and the future of the European left.
The first day the Romanian social democratic foundation ‘Ovidiu Sincai’ invited for a debate at their headquarters in Bucharest. Around 30 students, intellectuals and party members took part in the meeting and shared their ideas for the future of social democracy in Europe. Among the speakers was the Director of Ovidiu Sincai Anne Juganaru, MEP Titus Corlatean and PES Secretary-General Philip Cordery.
On the second day the discussions moved to Brasov for a seminar for Romanian PES activists. Even though the event took place short time before... » read more ...
Published Monday, June 9, 2008 at 21:03
by
Editor
(517 views and 0 comments)
No differences between
workers from the West and the East. This was one of the conclusions
of the debate organized by the Latvian Social Democratic Workers Party (LSDSP)
on the “New Social Europe” and the PES manifesto.
The debate, a two-day event that that took place late April, gathered participants from the party in Riga. Among the speakers was Philip Cordery, Secretary-General of the PES, who presented the PES report on “New Social Europe”. This set off a discussion on the recent ‘Laval case’ where Swedish trade unions took action against a Latvian construction company in Sweden, violating collective agreements. The case was brought to the European Court of Justice which delivered a controversial ruling: Swedish trade unions cannot oblige a foreign company posting workers in Sweden to observe collective bargaining agreements. The 80 meeting participants stated their support for the position of the PES and agreed that Latvians working abroad should be entitled to the same rights as local workers.
There were also other ideas put forward for the PES... » read more ...
Tags: employment, social dialogue, workers
Published Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 12:11
by
Editor
(481 views and 0 comments)
Kurt Beck, SPD chairman, is determined to fight for decent work and minimum income! He also wants to lower the social security contributions of low-earners and make up for the budgetary shortfall by raising taxes for the wealthy.
The announcements were made during a debate between SPD party leadership and some 3.000 delegates that came together in Nuremberg in the end of May to discuss the future of Germany and its oldest party.
Attending one of about 20 thematic discussion forums, party members could mingle with prominent representatives of the German social democracy. The panel on “New Social Europe”, for example, brought together Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development), Michael Sommer (Chairman of the German Confederation of Trade Unions), Martin Schulz (MEP, President of the Parliamentary Group of the PES) and Bernhard Rapkay (MEP, Head of the SPD delegation).
There was a consensus among participants that the central idea of the European social model is still up to date: economic growth and social justice... » read more ...
Tags: globalization
Published Friday, June 6, 2008 at 11:14
by
Richard_Falbr
(521 views and 0 comments)
In 1990 the Czech
trade unionists had to solve a difficult task: how to transform or
create trade unions which should be recognized by trade unions in
democratic states?
In the totalitarian regimes the trade unions were a transmition belt of the communist party. They existed as a kind of social institution organizing holidays and socialist emulation. They were something like the vertical unions in Spain during the Franco's regime. There was no collective bargaining, and the only positive element of their attitude was the free of charge representation of the members before tribunals in labour disputes. After the great General Strike in November 1989 Strike Committees were created and then the Coordination Centre of the strike committees was created in the capital of Moravia, Brno. So a parallel structure with the former communist "Revolutionary Trade Union Movement" was born. At congresses in January 1990 sixty unions were established. Then in March the Czechoslovak confederation of trade unions was created. The Confederation became the member of the ICFTU in May 1999.
The important result of the Congress which was free, democratic and supervised by observers from trade unions of democratic... » read more ...
Tags: blogger of the week, employment, workers
Published Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 17:50
by
Editor
(534 views and 0 comments)
The new “security package” in Italy risks to fuel tensions and increase the cases of violence such as the attacks on Roma-settlements around Naples and Milan.
As highlighted by the socialist MEPs in a hearing at the European Parliament on June 4, the new measures do not provide an equal treatment of individuals in front of the justice since for the same crime illegal immigrants will get an 1/3 higher penalty than the one established for nationals. Therefore, illegal immigration will become a crime itself targeted to asylum seekers, who usually run away from situations of war, extreme poverty and do not have other option than to arrive irregularly in a country.
According to the socialist MEP Jan Marinus Wiersma, rapporteur of the EP Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, Italy is shaking the principles of the Schengen system and the values of the European Union enshrined in Article 6 of the Treaty. Roma community is a European minority and as such it needs to be protected at European level.
Tags: equality, immigration, justice
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