Protesters join up for jobs

Date: 22/05/1997

A EUROPE-wide day of action next week will be the latest salvo in the battle being waged by trade unions to ensure that social and employment issues are not sidelined in the updated Maastricht Treaty.

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), which is coordinating simultaneous events in most major EU cities next Wednesday (28 May), says that the treaty which emerges from the Intergovernmental Conference “must lay the foundations for a real 'social Union' which puts economic and employment policies on a par with monetary policies”.

Demonstrators in Germany are planning to form a human chain around the European Monetary Institute (EMI) in Frankfurt.

For many critics, the EMI, which will become the European central bank once the euro is introduced, symbolises member states' obsession with qualifying for economic and monetary union on time at the expense of employment and social considerations.

A similar approach will be adopted in the Netherlands, where protesters will join hands around the national bank and give a petition to bank officials.

In Brussels, demonstrators aim to link the headquarters of the European Parliament, Commission and Council of Ministers before presenting a list of their demands to the Parliament and representatives of the employers' federation UNICE.

In Italy, the three main trade union federations are calling on workers to 'down tools' for two hours. Sit-ins are planned outside government offices and employers' organisations.

Conferences, street demonstrations and round table discussions are planned in the UK, Ireland, Sweden and Austria, while two large rock concerts will form the focus of events in Finland and Denmark.

The protests are taking place against the backdrop of an emerging consensus among IGC negotiators that the new EU treaty should contain a chapter on employment.

ETUC general secretary Emilio Gabaglio warned recently that, as it stood, the employment chapter would have no real 'teeth' as there were no provisions to oblige member states to work towards job creation.