At the last executive committee of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on March 10 and 11, Force Ouvrière mobilized and expressed itself, through the voice of Branislav Rugani, FO’s confederal secretary, to support the re-mobilization of the European trade union movement in support of public services, in a context marked by the resurgence of austerity and the massive diversion of public resources from social services to defense. In the discussions, FO recalled the unwavering mobilization of its activists and branches at the national level to defend public services. The resolution adopted by the ETUC is a positive sign of prioritizing public services in the future work of the European trade union movement, less than a year before its next congress in May 2027.
In continuation of the actions taken in recent months within the European and international trade union movement in defense of May 1st in France, FO obtained an emergency resolution to support trade union action ahead of the vote in the National Assembly on April 10th in France. FO also secured the sending of a letter by the ETUC and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to the Minister of Labor and the European Commission to express their unanimous opposition to the threat facing the French trade union movement, with possible symbolic repercussions for workers around the world. FO will travel with a delegation to Chicago (United States) on May 1st to pay tribute to the martyrs of the Haymarket Square massacre of May 1886, a turning point in the history of the international trade union movement in defense of May 1st.
This executive committee also seized the opportunity to react to recent developments in the Middle East and Iran with the reaffirmation of the trade union movement’s deep commitment to peace and international law, and with the expression of solidarity – notably with the Arab Trade Union Confederation, affiliated with the ITUC – to workers, who remain the first victims of conflicts in the region as well as in the rest of the world. FO also commits to the efforts of the European Trade Union Confederation to strengthen the protection of workers against the impact of conflict on their daily lives, especially on their employment and purchasing power in the face of an escalating energy crisis that compounds the cost of living crisis already present.
Even though the situation in the Middle East has recently overshadowed the pressure exerted by European, particularly French, employers for deregulation, in the guise of simplification and competitiveness, FO remains mobilized alongside the ETUC to prioritize the rights and interests of workers within the Nicosia Declaration adopted at this executive committee. The fight continues for FO, as demonstrated by the initiative presented on March 18 by the European Commission in favor of a twenty-eighth company law regime that risks reinforcing social dumping in Europe.
