Ben Richards, International Officer from UNITE debate in London, set the scene at the New Social Europe in London on 11 March 2008. He explained how Social Europe had benefited people so far. We wouldn’t have had parental leave or working time limits without the European social model. He advised that all the two million members of Unite are international in their outlook and pro-European. It is the benefits of the social model that galvanise members to vote in the next European elections. However, there is an increasing unhappiness towards the European Union, which has stagnated in its social policy in the last few years. We are concerned about the reform of the services directive and the panacea of flexicurity. Many people forget that in Denmark this includes high trade union rights and unemployment benefits. We are also concerned about the Viking and Laval court cases which call into question the social model. He proposed that we need to:
rebalance the great swing towards internal market reforms with better social policy reforms
stop the UK’s “opt outs” of social Europe
greater protection of temporary and agency workers
sign up to the Charter of Fundamental Rights
See more of his proposals and his debate here:
Check out the different debates of the "Globalisation of the community, how can we build a more social Europe" here:
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