Good jobs and responsible investments are essential among the EU’s new political priorities.
As summer gently made its appearance in the Nordics, 400 million Europeans elected a new European Parliament for the next five years. It is a mixed result. In many countries the big winners were parties with simplified answers to difficult questions, exacerbating distrust and division rather than building real solutions.
This is an alarm bell for the entire labour movement. We have to acknowledge and address the concerns of those who feel that society has been pulled apart while they have been left behind.
No landslide
At the same time, we should not forget that while such parties are growing in many large member states, citizens and workers in some other parts of the European Union chose to vote for progressive forces. In Finland and Sweden, where the politics of the right-wing governments are far from friendly to trade unions—take the undermining of the right to strike in Finland or the Swedish government’s firm opposition to the recent La Hulpe declaration—there were no landslide victories for the far right. Instead, progressive, green and left-leaning parties attracted voters.
In Sweden, the social democrats became the largest party, and the other election winners were the Left Party and the Green Party. In Finland, the Left Alliance achieved great success and the Social Democratic Party held on to its seats.
The coming term in the European Parliament will be different but things did not turn out as badly as many feared. Even though the balance has tilted towards more conservative forces, there are still big groups in the parliament which have stood up for a Europe built on fundamental values, such as democracy, the rule of law, free media and trade-union rights. Let us hope they continue to do so.
The equilibrium in the European Council and the Council of the EU, representing the member states, also favours conservative forces. Overall, the political context in the EU thus points towards more difficult legislative negotiations in Brussels and Strasbourg for those who want a strong social Europe.
Nordic model
The Nordic labour-market model is based on the idea of robust and equal social partners, jointly embracing the responsibility of regulating the labour market, regardless of the political affiliation of the current government and parliament. In this new landscape it will be even more important than before to have strong trade unions, collective-bargaining structures and autonomous negotiations capable of remaining resilient in the fight for better working conditions, even in a shifting political milieu.
The election campaigns in which our trade unions were engaged did not only take place on the street but in the workplace—in factories and on construction sites, in hospitals, on buses and in shops. They centred on topics important to workers: support for Ukraine, standing up for democracy and trade-union rights, health and safety at work and work-related crime.
Not least among these concerns was discontent with public money going straight into the pockets of disreputable businesses. When competitiveness and enterprise ‘freedom’ are top of the agenda for conservative politicians, we need to build countervailing forces and ensure that taxpayers’ money does not go to those who misbehave.
When green industrial establishments, essential for EU competitiveness and good-quality employment in the member states, are growing in numbers, it must be ensured that the workers, who secure the production, guarantee the welfare and build the society, are not left behind. Tax revenues and EU funds supporting these investments must be rendered conditional on obligations fulfilled in terms of working conditions, health-and-safety regulations and the essential reskilling of workers. At major public infrastructure projects we see long lines of subcontractors—rarely evidence of specialisation, rather of exploitation—which must stop.
Social rights
As the political priorities for the next mandate are being elaborated, among other things we would expect:
- better follow-up on social conditions in green investments, public procurement and limitation of the number of companies in a subcontracting chain;
- further action on health-and-safety rules at EU level, including enforcement, to ensure workers return from work at the end of the day, with a minimum of one labour inspector for every 10,000 employees in a member state;
- socially responsible expenditure of the huge sums dispensed to businesses across Europe, whether via agricultural policy or regional or state aid—including requiring respect for democracy and the rule of law—with benefiting companies liable for repayment if they do not comply with legislation on, for example, health and safety.
By demanding respect for social rights when money is used, it will be possible for trade unions in the member states to pursue compliance with good labour standards and collective agreements, even when conservative legislators set the agenda in Brussels. That is how we build a Europe that, with the help of strong trade unions and working people, can reject bad working conditions and anti-union forces more effectively—a Europe not built on the exploitation of the people who, through their work, create the prosperity and wellbeing we need in a globalised world.
Johan Lindholm is president of Landsorganisationen (LO), the Swedish Trade Union Confederation.
Jarkko Eloranta is president of the Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö (SAK), the Finnish Trade Union Confederation.