16th Union Syndicale Fédérale Congress USF – Alicante, 6-9 May 2023
The 16th Union Syndicale Fédérale Congress USF Alicante took place in Alicante on 6-9 May and 3 members of the Union USF IUE Florence’s Executive Committee attended.
The Union Syndicale Fédérale includes in total 20 member organisations, and the USF IUE is one of them. The Congress brought member organisations together to consolidate the fundamental values of the European public service, and reflect together on the strategies to be implemented to maintain our commitment to serving the citizens of Europe. The main themes of the Congress have been: digitalisation, internal training of the Union Syndicale, the status of labour rights (precariousness, short-term contracts, privatisation –subcontracting, wage tension, social security), sustainable development, financial regulation, etc.
The USF IUE delegation was composed by Lotta Svantesson (the USF IUE-Executive Committee President, Giovanna Rainò (treasures of the Union), and Laura Bechi.
On day 2 of the congress, 4 working groups were organized to discuss the following topics and eventually agree on a common position (e.g., resolutions)
- Agencies – Isidoros Tsouros (USB)
Decentralisation of agencies causes different problems across agencies depending on the local administration. Motion: giving people the means to do their work.
- Health Insurance – Monica Ermolli (US-ISPRA)
Exchange of information on the different situations in health insurance, moving towards a common understanding vs the administration. Resolution to be discussed.
- Digitalisation – Peter Kempen (SUEPO Berlin) & Nadja Salson (EPSU)
European agreement between EPSU & central (national) administrations of October 2022 – a resolution to apply this agreement also to the European and international organisations.
- Future of our Trade Union – Juan Pedro Perez-Escanilla (USB)
Risks & opportunities for the trade unions with the proliferation of remote working, where the traditional unions were born and made possible when workers found themselves concentrated in factories together. How to adapt the structure, ways of working, and objectives of trade union(s) due to the changes in the ways of working. Link with democracy at work.
Key Resolutions:
– Resolution on digitalisation (with the active collaboration of USF IUE Florence) adopted by Congress.
– Resolution on sustainability (proposed by USF IUE Florence) adopted by Congress unanimously, in a revised version.
– Resolution on Health (with active collaboration of USF IUE Florence) adopted in its second version.
All the other Resolutions adopted by Congress are published at https://unionsyndicale.eu/en/usf/congres/16th-usf-congress-alicante-2023/ on top of the page.
And:
On day 4 Giovanna Rainò was elected member of the USF Disputing board.