TRADE UNIONS FOR A FAIR RECOVERY: Strengthening the role of trade unions in mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 crisis

COVID-19 has underlined the importance of Social Dialogue in societies across Europe. While it has come to the forefront during the pandemic, it is crucial that effective social dialogue is at the heart of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs). Strong unions are essential for a fair recovery !

The pandemic has been asymmetrical, affecting different countries in different ways. To adequately tackle this, the EFJ and the ETUC are launching an initiative funded by the European Commission which will “cascade” capacity-building funds to national trade unions. These funds will help trade unions in their efforts to build digital trade unionism, supporting digital skills and digital tools of trade unions, which will overall strengthen their organising capacity, communication with members and their role within national social dialogue institutions. Overall, this initiative aims to support unions in their activities to shape national recovery plans that deliver secure jobs with decent pay and conditions.

As partner of the project, the EFJ is launching its own cascading fund to journalists’ unions and associations tackling the issue of media freedom, democracy, corruption and whistleblower protection in Europe, and particularly so in the Balkan region.

A call for proposals has been launched for journalists’ unions and associations in the EU and candidate countries to apply for the fund. A selection procedure will be launched to evaluate the applications according to the awarding criteria set out by the EFJ and the ETUC.