There has long been a clear vision that the social services employers should have a stronger say at European level, and in particular in European Social Dialogue, which gives a special status to recognised social partners through the European Treaties.
Despite employing more than 11 million employees in Europe and creating up to 2 million new jobs in the last 10
years, the social services employers are not yet recognised as social partners
at EU level. This limits the impact of the sector on crucial EU policies. It also means the sector's employers do
not benefit from the advantages of having dedicated European Social Dialogue
structures for the sector.
Something needed to change … social services employers needed to organise themselves better!
Due to this lack of sectoral representation, a broad partnership of organisations from national and European level came together to find a solution in the early 2010s. This was the beginning of a seven years process which – through 3 European projects, with the financial support of the European Union – led to the launch of the Federation of European Social Employers in October 2017.
Since this date, the Social Employers has reached a number of milestones, significantly growing their membership and building a strong cooperation with the European Federation of Public Service Union (EPSU), including through joint thematic seminars, joint position papers and statements.
To know more about the events and position papers developed with EPSU, read the page
dedicated to social
dialogue.