We have reached an important milestone in our #ProcuringDecentWork campaign. Over 100 Members of the European Parliament from 5 different political groups are backing our call and want to only allow public contracts to go to companies that have collective agreements with their workers.

“Public contracts should not go to companies that seek a competitive advantage by suppressing workers’ say and driving poverty wages and sub-standard working conditions. Decent pay and working conditions are in the public interest,” reads their declaration.

This broad support was revealed a day prior to a hearing at the European Parliament on the topic of sustainable public procurement. A number of MEPs relayed key points from our campaign, including this great intervention by Kim van Sparrentak (Greens/EFA, Netherlands).

For further insight, check out our snapshot report entitled Put your money where your mouth is – why and how the EU needs to change its public spending policies to promote a social Europe. For a shorter read, have a look at Reversing the procurement race to the bottom, the opinion piece by Oliver Roethig and Stan de Spiegelaere.

Black Friday = #MakeAmazonPay day

Together with Belgian affiliates, UNI Europa organised a demonstration outside the European Parliament on “Black Friday” as part of the Make Amazon Pay global day of action.

In the build-up to the event, we also jointly organised a lobby tour of Brussels together with Corporate Europe Observatory and with the participation of three MEPs from three different parliamentary groups. Catch up on the action, with this short promotional video and this longer summary.

Oliver Roethig also penned this piece in the Progressive International Wire (translated into German, French, Spanish, Italian).

#PlatformWorkDirective

As we write these words, the EU Commission has just published its initiative to improve the conditions of people working through digital labour platforms. UNI Europa welcomed the inclusion of key trade union demands.

You can watch the ETUC’s Facebook live with interventions from key players in this work, including Oliver Roethig.

In case you missed it