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Claes-Mikael Ståhl


Claes-Mikael Ståhl (cmstahl@etuc.org) has been deputy general secretary at the European Trade Union Confederation since September 2021. He deals primarily with social dialogue, trade and standardisation.

Claes-Mikael Ståhl

Democracy Under Siege: Trade Unions Rise as a Bulwark Against the Far Right

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 16th April 2025

Trade unions are poised to defend the institutions that bind society together.

Calling Time on 24/7 Work Connectivity

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 28th February 2025

The rapid development of new technologies is increasing pressure and forcing unlimited working time and growing stress among many workers across Europe. 

Social dialogue: defending democracy in practice

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 24th July 2024

In the face of the threat from the far right, trade unions represent democracy’s strongest supporters.

Democracy must set the standard

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 29th April 2024

Standardisation of how artificial intelligence is deployed in the workplace is not a technical but a political matter.

Democracy at work and in society: populist antidote

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 7th March 2024

Trade unions and other civil-society organisations are key to fending off the threat from the far right.

Time to recognise a fifth EU freedom: solidarity

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 26th January 2024

Tesla’s confrontation with Swedish workers highlights how solidarity must be enabled in a globalised Europe.

EU funds need stronger social conditionality

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 11th May 2023

The rules for allocation of EU funds should be more transparent and provide a meaningful role for the social partners.

Stress at work: countering Europe’s new pandemic

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 3rd April 2023

Occupational stress has become endemic. It damages workers, their families, businesses and economies.

Social dialogue must be at the heart of Europe’s future

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 24th January 2023

This week the European Commission will publish a proposal to revivify social dialogue. It must be more than words.

Health and safety: Europe’s patchy commitment

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 6th October 2022

The European Union must stop compromising on the fundamental right of workers to health and safety.

Labour shortages offer trade unions valuable opportunity

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 11th July 2022

A ‘tight’ labour market is not such a bad thing for trade unions—and therefore for workers.

Sanctions on Russia: the next phase

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 5th April 2022

Sanctions have so far been economic and short-term. The long-term goal of political freedom in Russia must be kept in mind.

Cutting workplace accidents and diseases to zero

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 27th January 2022

The pandemic has focused attention on health and safety. But workers were already dying just trying to make a living.

EU strategic autonomy must mean fairer trade

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 16th December 2021

If ‘strategic autonomy’ is to define the EU’s relation to the world, linked trade deals must not mean dependence for workers.

Aiming for a revolution in world trade

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 10th November 2021

In the neoliberal era, global trade deals have come at the expense of workers. That can and must be reversed.

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Spring Issues

The Spring issue of The Progressive Post is out!


Since President Trump’s inauguration, the US – hitherto the cornerstone of Western security – is destabilising the world order it helped to build. The US security umbrella is apparently closing on Europe, Ukraine finds itself less and less protected, and the traditional defender of free trade is now shutting the door to foreign goods, sending stock markets on a rollercoaster. How will the European Union respond to this dramatic landscape change? .


Among this issue’s highlights, we discuss European defence strategies, assess how the US president's recent announcements will impact international trade and explore the risks  and opportunities that algorithms pose for workers.


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WSI Report

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2025

The trend towards significant nominal minimum wage increases is continuing this year. In view of falling inflation rates, this translates into a sizeable increase in purchasing power for minimum wage earners in most European countries. The background to this is the implementation of the European Minimum Wage Directive, which has led to a reorientation of minimum wage policy in many countries and is thus boosting the dynamics of minimum wages. Most EU countries are now following the reference values for adequate minimum wages enshrined in the directive, which are 60% of the median wage or 50 % of the average wage. However, for Germany, a structural increase is still necessary to make progress towards an adequate minimum wage.

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The Politics of Unpaid Work

This new book published by Oxford University Press presents the findings of the multiannual ERC research project “Researching Precariousness Across the Paid/Unpaid Work Continuum”,
led by Valeria Pulignano (KU Leuven), which are very important for the prospects of a more equal Europe.

Unpaid labour is no longer limited to the home or volunteer work. It infiltrates paid jobs, eroding rights and deepening inequality. From freelancers’ extra hours to care workers’ unpaid duties, it sustains precarity and fuels inequity. This book exposes the hidden forces behind unpaid labour and calls for systemic change to confront this pressing issue.

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