New members and discussions launched with EPSU

• On the 23rd April, the Federation of European Social Employers welcomed new members from France, Finland, Spain and Poland; with many other organisations on the doorstep. A permanent observer status was also agreed for Social Services Europe, the voice of Social Services NGOs at EU level.
• On the 24th April, the Federation of European Social Employers and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) also launched discussions in view of establishing a joint workplan at EU level.
• The Social Employers and EPSU agreed to first focus on three important subjects: 
  • Digitalisation
  • Job Creation / Recruitment and Retention
  • Socially Responsible Public Procurement

New Members for the Social Employers

Earlier this week, the General Assembly of the Social Employers welcomed in new members from France (SNAECSO, Full Member), Finland (Hyvinvointialan liitto, as observer), Spain (LARES, as observer) and Poland (WRZOS, as observer). A permanent observer status has also been agreed with Social Services Europe, a European network of not-for-profit Social Services NGOs.

Welcoming the new members, Mr Gregor Tomschizek, President of the Social Employers, stated that “After only 6 months of existence, I am very proud to welcome our first new members. This will only help to re-enforce our positive dynamic towards ensuring that social services employers’ have a recognised, strong and valued voice at EU level. With many other employer organisations also on the doorstep, we will continue to work on expanding membership over the next few months; with upcoming events in a dozen countries”. 

Discussions launched between the Social Employers and EPSU

Despite employing over 10 million workers in Europe, with 2 million new jobs created in only a decade, the social services sector is not yet adequately representing in European Social Dialogue. This limits both the voice of the sector at EU level and the ability for the sector’s social partners to be able to collectively assess challenges and opportunities in social service provision, work together in a structured and recognized framework at EU level and jointly influence EU legislation. The Social Employers have a clear objective to set-up a sectoral social dialogue committee for social services at EU level.

Earlier this year, the Social Employers and EPSU agreed to work together towards ensuring an adequate representation of social services employers’ and trade unions’ within European Social Dialogue structures. This week marked the launch of discussions on a common work plan for a possible test phase sectoral social dialogue committee for social services. Three topics were highlighted and discussed as areas of joint work:

• Digitalisation
• Job Creation / Recruitment and Retention
• Socially Responsible Public Procurement

Following the discussions, Mr Thomas Bignal, Director of the Social Employers, welcomed “the constructive spirit of the first discussions as a crucial step towards the development of social dialogue structures for social services at EU level. The involvement of over 30 participants from our members and from EPSU’s affiliates was a real success as it helped to exchange promising practices and interesting studies between the different stakeholders on these three topics.”

Want to learn more about the Social Employers? Visit our website www.socialemployers.eu. Want to get regular updates from the Social Employers? Sign up to our newsletter or follow-us on twitter: @SocialEmployers.

For more information, please contact:
Thomas Bignal
Director
thomas.bignal(at)socialemployers.eu
+32 2 233 77 23  

Alina Pavicevac
Policy & Communications Assistant
alina.pavicevac(at)socialemployers.eu
+32 2 233 77 23

A PDF of the Press Release in English is available here.
A PDF of the Press Release in German is available here.