How can we rebalance the great swing towards internal market reforms with better social policy reforms?

April 6th, 2008by Noel Hatch

Ben Richards, UNITE International Officer, set the scene at the New Social Europe debate of the PES Manifesto Consultation on how Social Europe had benefited people so far. We wouldn’t have had parental leave or working time limits without the European social model. He advised that all the two million members of Unite are international in their outlook and pro-European. It is the benefits of the social model that galvanise members to vote in the next European elections.

However, there is an increasing unhappiness towards the European Union, which has stagnated in its social policy in the last few years. We are concerned about the reform of the services directive and the panacea of flexisecurity. Many people forget that in Denmark this includes high trade union rights and unemployment benefits. We are also concerned about the Viking and Laval court cases which call into question the social model. He proposed that we need to

• rebalance the great swing towards internal market reforms with better social policy reforms
• stop the UK’s “opt outs” of social Europe
• greater protection of temporary and agency workers
• sign up to the Charter of Fundamental Rights

See more of his proposals and his debate here: