Responding today to the European Commission’s proposal for a Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions, Esther Lynch, ETUC Confederal Secretary, welcomed some important improvements, although this reform is not the game-changer unions needed or expected. “Many of the provisions in this new measure, replacing the Written Statement Directive, represent a significant improvement. For example, all workers will be entitled to a written statement from the first day of employment. This means seasonal agriculture, domestic, on-demand, intermittent, voucher-based and platform workers will be effectively covered. And the Directive goes further in proposing very helpful provisions to ensure that online platforms…

The second meeting of the Steering Committee of the project “New trade union strategies for new forms of employment” will take place on July 4th from 10:00 to 14:00 in the meeting room of the 6th floor of the ETUC (Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 5. 1210 Brussels). The EFJ will be represented by its Project Officer Yuk Lan Wong.

The Media, Arts and Entertainment sector has seen significant changes in the structure of the labour market and in the organisation of work both within and outside the framework of the traditional employment relationships – with an established trend towards various forms of atypical working arrangements. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the International Federation of Actors (FIA), UNI MEI and the International Federation of Musicians (FIM) have today launched a handbook on ”The Future of Work in the Arts, Media & Entertainment Sector”, outlining conclusions and recommendations addressing atypical work in the Media, Arts and Entertainment sector. The launch…

On 26-27 January, FIA (Actors’ Unions), FIM (musicians), UNI-Europa (media, entertainment & art) and the EFJ organised a workshop in Ljubljana and discussed how to better protect those categories of workers who do not enjoy any social and legal  protection. MEP Tanja Fajon gave a video key note speech reminding participants that all EU Member States are committed to provide social security for all workers, and that we all have to defend the European social model. She referred to the EP report on social protection for all including self-employed workers. The report asks the European Commission and Member States to…

In the framework of the project “Reaching out to atypical workers” funded by the European Commission, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with its affiliate, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Ireland will organise a workshop on “Collective bargaining for atypcial workers” on 8 & 9 September in Dublin.  Workshop discussion summary EFJ calls for stronger rights for freelance workers Agenda The workshop is part of the joint project with partners FIA, UNI-MEI and FIM to address the challenges facing by unions in the sector to represent freelance workers and defend their rights. Key issues include: Collective bargaining…

A workshop on atypical workers organised by the International Federation of Actors (FIA) in cooperation with the Dutch actors’ union (FNV KIEM) within the joint project with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), International Federation of Musicians (FIM) and UNI-MEI took place in Amsterdam on 20 May. The participants, union leaders from the creative and media sector, discussed the impact of the changing landscape for workers and the impact on their working conditions and union services across the European Union. Yvonne Dankfurt from the EFJ affiliate in the Netherlands(Nederlandse Vereniging van Journalisten – NVJ), outlined the programmes offered by NVJ…