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	Trade Union Priority List for REACH Authorisation On 13 July, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) releases the updated version of its Priority List of chemical substances of very high concern. The version 2.0 includes 334 substances or group of substances ordered by priority, this represents 29 new entries compared to the first version published in March 2009. The trade union organisation wants a maximum of them requiring authorisation under REACH. [Read more]

'Better regulation': the European social partners from the building sector say no to the Stoiber's group

On 30 June 2010, the European Trade Union and Employers' organisations from the building sector strongly criticized in a joint statement the proposals of an expert group sponsored by the Commission to simplify the European legislation.

A public hearing on the Future of European Standardisation took place in Brussels on Wednesday 23 June 2010 at which ETUI senior researcher Stefano Boy was invited to comment on the role of standardisation in promoting higher standards of health and safety in the workplace.

The ETUI Health and Safety Department is developing its work on nanotechnologies and nanomaterials towards standardisation. The International Organisation for Standardisation’s (ISO) Technical Committee 229 on ‘Nanotechnologies’ held its 10th meeting in Maastricht (Netherlands) from 17 to 21 May. The ETUI was present in the working group on Terminology and Nomenclature.

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A trade union look at the lift sector

This publication summarizes the knowledge and experience accumulated during the six-year cooperation launched in 2004 by the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) and the ETUI with the intention of carrying out joint cross-border projects to improve the working conditions of European metal industry workers.

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REACH: an opportunity for trade unions.

The marketing of chemicals – especially those that could harm human health - has been regulated by REACH since 1 June 2007. Not that implementing this law will automatically mean better prevention of workplace chemical risks. Real progress, which includes outlawing the most toxic chemicals from workplaces, will not happen unless union representatives take ownership of the law. This booklet means to help them do that vital front-line job.

The EU’s Dublin-based European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions does a large-scale survey of European workers at five-yearly intervals. The last survey, done in 2005, quizzed around 30,000 workers in 29 countries about their working conditions.

The European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) published a report on the European Commission’s "better regulation" programme in late March. The Commission is promising that scrapping or revising a number of directives will save businesses around 40 billion euros by reducing the "administrative formalities" they impose. In Better Regulation: a critical assessment, Laurent Vogel (ETUI) and Eric Van den Abeele (University of Mons) reveal the agenda within the agenda.

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