Joint press release by IndustriAll Europe And EPSU (European Federation of Public Service Trade Unions)
After nine months of negotiations between the social partners of the EU in the gas sectorthe employers’ organization, Eurogasfailed to adopt the Just Transition Agreement reached by delegations of employers and trade unions, which would guarantee a Just Transition for the gas workers who are facing the massive transformation underway. The agreement aimed to ensure that companies develop just transition plans to anticipate the impact of the transformation on jobs and skills, provide quality training and transitions from one workplace to another, with the involvement of workers and of the unions.
IndustriAll Europe And EPSU strongly regret that the good faith with which they have negotiated for nine months has not been fully reciprocated by employers in the European Union’s gas sector. It is a serious blow for sectoral social dialogue and for European social dialogue. And above all, this is a major setback to achieving a fair and just transition to prevent climate change.
Despite unions’ efforts to ensure a fair and just transition for gas workers, National employers’ organizations and businesses continue to ignore the scale of change underway and place profit before people and planet. Behind the positive statements that gas sector employers make in public, there is a reluctance to take concrete steps that would pave the way for a just transition. It is very disappointing that, after nine months of negotiations, their words are nothing more than greenwashing.
It is not the first time that employers’ associations at European level have failed to engage in constructive social dialogue to organize a fair future for workers. After Business Europe’s recent failure to adopt the social partners’ cross-sectoral agreement on teleworking, A worrying trend is emerging in which employers seek to undermine social dialogue at European level by engaging in discussions that have the sole aim of postponing and obstructing EU regulation. Employer organizations are hampered by the actions of some companies that continue to prioritize the narrow interests of the business class over the well-being of workers and society. This further demonstrates the need for a European regulatory framework on just transition.
The trade union federations EPSU and IndustriAll Europe call on the Belgian Presidency and the European Commission to present a proposal for a directive on just transition without further delay. IndustriAll Europe and EPSU will further reflect on the impacts, in particular on the future of social dialogue, and decide on measures to be taken at European and national level. They remain at the negotiating table and will engage with all serious employers who recognize that ensuring a just transition is the only way to attract and retain a key workforce in the gas sector.
Joint press release IndustriAll Europe and EPSU
