Inhumane working conditions and exploitation are the reality for many agricultural workers in the EU. In an open letter, the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT) demands more social rights for the agricultural workers within the scope of the common agricultural policy, which is supported by more than 300 other organisations – among them AK EUROPA.

The Covid-19 crisis not only rendered visible the great importance of the platform economy for the supply of everyday goods. It also revealed the disadvantages of this hyper-flexible form of intermediation and employment, often combined with a precarious working situation. However, given the urgency of a just and fair regulation of platform workers’ working conditions, it has now become abundantly clear – the time is ripe for a Directive on platform work.

On 27 January 2021, the Commission presented its Green Paper on Ageing, thereby launching a 12-week public consultation on the Green Paper. However, according to an initial analysis of the Austrian Chamber of Labour, the first impression is rather sobering.

In order to achieve a climate-neutral Europe by 2050, the EU wants to use the Just Transition Fund to support those regions, which will be confronted with serious socio-economic challenges. Following the European Commission’s presentation of its proposal on 13 January 2020, the negotiations between European Parliament, Council and Commission have now, a year later, been successfully completed.

Gender inequality and working poverty were at the centre of the second webinar of the event series “Social policy in the European Union” of the European Trade Union Institute and the European Social Observatory, which was hosted in cooperation with AK EUROPA.

Since 2012, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has published a Report on the issue of Trade and Development on an annual basis. Within the scope of an event, the Representatives of civil society and UNCTAD discussed the Report as well as the question as to what the way out of the crisis towards well-being for all might look like.

Hinter menschenunwürdigen Arbeitsbedingungen und Umweltschäden im globalen Süden stehen oftmals Unternehmen des globalen Nordens, auch europäische Unternehmen. Diese weisen in der Regel jegliche Verantwortung für Ereignisse entlang der Lieferketten von sich. Das muss sich ändern! Das aktuelle Factsheet der Reihe „EU & International auf einen Blick“ erklärt kurz und prägnant, warum es neue Spielregeln für die Wirtschaft und eine Europäisches Gesetz für die Lieferkette braucht.

In autumn 2015, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were presented as a transformative vision of unprecedented scope and significance. However, so far, the interim balance has been rather sobering. If the envisaged goals are to be reached by 2030, the way out of the Coronavirus crisis has to be totally focused on the sustainable development of wealth and wellbeing.

The European Parliament (EP) has, within the scope of an Initiative Report, mapped out a number of demands, which are necessary to accomplish a socially just transition. Now it is up to European Commission and Council to implement the important measures to ensure that no one is left behind when implementing the Green Deal or during the course of the pandemic.

In the future, the right to disconnect shall reduce the negative aspects of telework and working from the home. On 21 January 2021, the European Parliament approved a corresponding report of the Employment Committee.