Platform of European Demands against- Unemployment,
- job insecurity
- and exclusions
- Unemployment,
- job insecurity
- and exclusions
Throughout Europe, Big Business is on the offensive making full use of both the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties.
The struggles of the unemployed men and women have grown and with it increasing demands for the redistribution of wealth. These demands arising out their struggles must be listened to by the economic and political leaders at all levels of the decision making process, including the European Union.
Here are some of the more urgent demands that we have put forward to the unemployed, those in short-term contracts, wage-earners, and European citizens. In order to succeed, these demands need the combined forces of salaried workers and the jobless, in coordonnated joint struggles, that ignore borders.
- A income which will allow each and everyone to have a decent standard of living, without discrimination of age, sex or origin, or any other form of discrimination. Profits have never stopped growing, while millions of people in Europe are increasingly living below the poverty line. We demand that everyone has the right to a guaranteed income in relation to the degree of wealth product by society as a whole.
-
An immediate and massive reduction in working hours: for a 35 hour
week throughout Europe, decreasing to 32 hours and down to 30 hours per
week, with job creation, without loss of salary, or purchasing power, or
flexibility or annualisation of working hours.
In order to generate jobs, this reduction of working hours must cover all types of businesses, and all economic sectors and must be reinforced by legislative measures and directives which reproduce and represent the results of their struggles. - For a massive new jobs that are socially, culturally and ecologically useful with decent salaries and including social gains already acquired.
- Total opposition to any attempt to introduce workfare, under the cover of »return to work« and total rejection of »employability« because both these measures are a form of coercion to force the unemployed to take jobs with unacceptable working conditions.
- Total opposition against all forms of precarisation of salaries, whether in the public sector or private sector, total opposition to the imposition of part-time work, to overtime and to sackings.
- Total opposition of all forms of discrimination which prevent equal access to jobs and salaries to women. This will mean, amongst other things, the development of collective structures, for example the responsibility for looking after very young children.
- Call for European harmonisation of existing Social Rights and for our
demands to be aligned on the most advantageous rights for men and women:
- Right to health-care;
- Right to housing;
- Right to education, culture and training courses;
- Right to an income, employment and training courses for the young;
- Right to transport and access to all forms of communication
- Right to utilities : electricity, gaz and water...
- Right to a retirement pension;
- Equality between men and women;
- Free circulation of people;
- Opposition to work by children, exploitation of immigrant workers in the undeclared work;
- Opposition to insecure jobs ...
- For the right of recognition of unemployed associations and organisations, for the respect of workers' rights to form trade unions, to control their own work situation and to join forces in struggles.
- For a democratic Europe that is open and caring, ecological, without discrimination, racism, national chauvinism or borders, where there is equal civic and political rights for all inhabitants and residency documents for all.
The European Assizes against unemployment, job insecurity and social
exclusion.
Brussels, 19 April 1998
