PERC pre-ILC meeting in Athens

The ITUC-PERC, in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, organized a working meeting to start preparations for the International Labour Conference. Some thirty participants from different parts of Europe took part in the meeting.

The participants shared information about workers’ rights situation in their countries and in the region, prioritizing several of cases included in the report of the ILO Committee of Experts that could be further discussed as potential country cases for the consideration of the Committee of Application of Standards of the ILC. Among most prominent cases the participants mentioned Belarus and Turkey.

The meeting also reviewed the state of affairs in the dispute with the employers’ group regarding the right to strike and debated the specifics of the European situation and contribution to the informal economy standard setting mechanism. Colleagues from the GSEE presented the economic and trade union situation in the country, following the several years dictate of the “troika” that pushed Greece into vicious debt and austerity circle.

The participants also discussed the ITUC frontline priorities, and on-going campaigns, including the work to achieve ratification of the Forced labour protocol adopted by the previous year ILC.