ICTU Pledges for 2019 European Elections

If elected to the European Parliament, [candidate pledges] to:

  • Seek to minimise the damage of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union (EU) particularly on workers and people on low incomes; to ensure that there is no diminution of rights, safeguards and equality of opportunity as set out in Section 6 of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement; and to ensure that no obstacles or impediments are put in place that would prevent the people of Northern Ireland who have exercised, or may exercise, their entitlement to Irish citizenship from fully exercising their rights in accordance with the Treaties, as called for by the European Parliament’s resolution of 3 October 2017 on the Brexit negotiations.
  • Support for the adoption of European legislation that strengthens social dialogue and the right of all workers to engage in collective bargaining; the use of qualified majority voting for such an initiative, and for other social and anti-discrimination initiatives, in place of the current unanimity requirement for such initiatives (i.e. under Articles 19 & 153).
  • Support the full implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights as proclaimed by European leaders in November 2017, particularly principles 1 & 4 on education, training and life-long learning, principles 5-10 on fair working conditions, principle 16 on health, and principle 19 on housing, including to promote compliance with all obligations under the Council of Europe’s Social Charter, as well as with the WHO’s Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030, particularly the commitments concerning fair employment.
  • Support the adoption of European legislation that ensure decent working conditions in all forms of employment, including for non-standard and precarious workers.
  • Support the revision of the European Semester process of economic policy coordination among member states to give greater emphasis to overcoming social imbalances.
  • Support the incorporation of a binding Social Protocol into the treaties in order to strengthen fundamental social rights in relation to economic freedoms.
  • Support the adoption of a robust European Equality Strategy (2019-2024) between women and men that fully reflects the EU’s obligation to ensure equality between women and men and that seeks in particular to improve working conditions in sectors where women workers are predominant.
  • Support a Just Transition for workers affected by job disruption and transformation from decarbonisation, digitalisation, automation and globalisation.
  • Support a European migration policy that protects human rights, that ensures all people have equal treatment at work and in society, that seeks to end exploitation, and that promotes the integration and inclusion of migrants, for the benefit of all. Fair mobility must be ensured for all EU and third-country workers, and the fight against social dumping must be a priority.
  • Support the adoption of European trade and investment policies and agreements with third countries that give greater prominence to social rights and the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and International Labour Organisation conventions and recommendations, in place of an unregulated globalisation that encourages self-interest, lack of solidarity, greed, xenophobia and racism, to create an environment for the rise of the right-wing political parties and populism.
European Election Pledge Form