The Pan-European Trade Union Steering Committee met to discuss about the important issues and new challenges created by the pandemic. The meeting was led by Irakli Petriashvili, Chairman of the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation and President of the Pan-European Trade Union.
World and European Priorities and Actions (Recovery and Resilience) – This was the line that followed today’s online meeting. The participants were addressed by Owen Tudor – Deputy General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation; Luca Vicentini – General Secretary of the Pan-European Trade Union and Irakli Petriashvili – President of the Pan-European Trade Union.
In addition to setting the minimum wage in the EU, at the initiative of Irakli Petriashvili and the joint decision of the Council, Luca Vicentin will raise the issue in the EU for a group of experts to study and compare the situation with the minimum wage in non-EU countries. The EU should also develop recommendations for the Eastern Partnership countries, including the Georgian government, on minimum wages, as well as adventurous steps and blackmail by business organizations, regarding the minimum wage, as well as changes in the Labour Code and the improvement of legislation that brings us closer to EU standards.
The topic of the online council meeting was the pandemic-caused crises in European countries and the world, rising unemployment and the necessary steps to prevent the aggravation of the situation. The difficult political situation in Belarus, numerous cases of human rights violations, disregard for international norms and cases of persecution of the democratic trade union were discussed.
In addition to Belarus, the conversation focused on the situation and developments in specific countries, including examples from countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ukraine.