EU ATTACKS TRADE UNION RIGHTS

RMTnews :: february 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 12 EU ATTACKS TRADE UNION RIGHTS The European Commission has launched a Green Paper which attacks trade union rights across the European Union The European Commission Green Paper, “Modernising labour law to meet the challenges of the 21st century”, is part of a consultation ending in March which promotes something called ‘flexicurity’. This concept makes the false promise that if workers embrace “flexibility” then job “security” will follow. The Green Paper goes on to argue for an end to protection for workers in a number of ways including the abolition of “overtly protective terms and conditions” in contracts which supposedly “deter employers from hiring during economic upturns”. In plain language, it would mean the end to collective workers’ rights as we know them. The paper also claims that “stringent employment protection tends to reduce the dynamism of the labour market” – i.e. preventing bosses hiring Join the Public Rally for the Trade Union Freedom Bill Thursday March 1 2007, 7pm, Committee Room 10, House of Commons, (Nearest Tube Westminster) CONFIRMED SPEAKERS John Hendy QC (chair) John McDonnell MP Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary Katy Clark MP