 |
|
| |
10/11/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
10/11/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
10/11/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
10/11/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
04/11/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
03/11/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
 The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is concerned by the direction taken by the negotiations under way on the inclusion of chrysotile asbestos on the list of substances covered by the Rotterdam Convention. This week, the countries that signed the Convention met up in Rome to decide whether or not to add two pesticides and chrysotile asbestos to the list.
|
|
|
|
| |
 The European trade union network on standardization coordinated by the ETUI held its annual meeting in Valencia (Spain) on 29-30 September, when trade unionists and experts from national and European standardization bodies discussed the situation in the construction industry. The participants worked back from a case study of a fatal accident caused by lifting equipment to reconstruct how it happened and identify the specific causes.
|
|
|
|
| |
28/10/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
27/10/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
27/10/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
27/10/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
20/10/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
20/10/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
16/10/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
13/10/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
13/10/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
02/10/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
01/10/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
29/09/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
29/09/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
24/09/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
24/09/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
10/09/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
10/09/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
09/09/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
05/09/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
02/09/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
02/09/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
29/08/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
29/08/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
29/08/2008
|
|
|
|
| |
25/08/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
18/07/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
15/07/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
14/07/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
14/07/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
11/07/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
11/07/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
09/07/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
08/07/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
 The ETUC is calling for a blanket ban on paint strippers that contain dichloromethane, a member of the chlorinated solvent group of chemicals that is responsible for a large number of deaths and accidents between 1989 and 2007. These paint removers are on open sale not just to building industry professionals, but also to ordinary shoppers on DIY store shelves. The European Parliament's (EP) Environment Committee is shortly to give its opinion on the Commission proposal to restrict their sale and use.
|
|
|
|
| |
 A working group report handed in on 3 July 2007 to the Commission’s DG Enterprise endorsed a continued derogation that allows European industry to keep on using asbestos. A 1999 Directive which outlawed asbestos use in the EU granted a derogation for installations that use electrolysis cells. This is an industrial process involving asbestos diaphragms, used mainly by the chlor-alkali industry. When the Directive was adopted, it was agreed that the derogation would end on 1 January 2008. In a note sent to the Commission in June 2008, the ETUC unpicks the technical case made by DG Enterprise to justify maintaining the exception.
|
|
|
|
| |
07/07/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
02/07/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
01/07/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
 The ETUC Executive Committee adopted a first resolution on nanotechnologies and nanomaterials on 25 June. The ETUC’s key demand is that the precautionary principle must apply to nanotechnologies. The trade union confederation recognizes that nanotechnologies might have considerable development potential, but is concerned that significant uncertainties still revolve around their effects on human health and the environment.
|
|
|
|
| |
27/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
25/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
24/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
23/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
21/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
20/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
18/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
18/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
17/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
16/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
12/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
European Union nations agreed Tuesday (10 June) to let workers opt out of a maximum 48-hour workweek and to give more rights to temporary workers across the 27-member bloc."The agreement on working time is highly unsatisfactory and unacceptable to the ETUC," said John Monks, ETUC General Secretary."We will now be working with allies in the European Parliament to amend this agreement," he added.
|
|
|
|
| |
09/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
08/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
08/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
07/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
07/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
06/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
On the eve of the Council Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (9 June), the ETUC expresses its strong concerns about the proposals for revision of the Working Time Directive which will be on the agenda of this meeting. According to the ETUC, these fall short of protecting workers against the health and safety hazards of long working hours and introduce an overall diminution of protection without proper safeguards.
|
|
|
|
| |
06/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
05/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
The inauguration on 3 June 2008 in Helsinki of the European Chemicals Agency marks the real start-up of implementation of the REACH Regulation. REACH obliges industry to register the chemicals it manufactures or imports in quantities of more than one tonne a year. Many of the companies concerned are unaware of this obligation. Acting through its member organisations, the ETUC will contribute to the information campaign meant to raise European companies’ awareness.
|
|
|
|
| |
The European Commission announced on 29 May that the Advisory Committee for Safety and Health at Work had approved its proposal for a Directive drawing up a third list of indicative occupational exposure limit values (IOELVs).The new list establishes IOELVs for 20 hazardous chemicals. The IOELVs proposed by the Commission for formaldehyde, carbon disulfide and mercury also got the ACSHW’s green light in the face of vigorous opposition by industry and the British and German governments.
|
|
|
|
| |
02/06/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
30/05/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
On 22 May 2008, the European Parliament (EP) approved a draft Commission regulation laying down test methods for chemicals under the REACH regulation. The EP gave the thumbs-up after receiving assurances from the Commission that more streamlined and transparent procedures will be implemented for the acceptance of non-animal testing methods. Trade unions are not convinced that these “alternative tests” are always certain to produce sufficiently robust toxicological data.
|
|
|
|
| |
29/05/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
27/05/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
26/05/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
21/05/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
20/05/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
20/05/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
05/05/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
29/04/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
29/04/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
23/04/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
18/04/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
16/04/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
08/04/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
04/04/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
01/04/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
17/03/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
13/03/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
12/03/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
12/03/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
11/03/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
11/03/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
10/03/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
10/03/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
10/03/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
07/03/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
29/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
The EU’s 2004 Directive on the exposure of workers to electromagnetic fields will not come into force as it was meant to this April. On 19 February, the European Parliament responded to medical community protests by adopting MEP Jan Andersson’s (PES) report to put off the deadline for Member States to carry the Directive into law until 2012. The ETUC argues that this decision will be bad for the roll-out of shopfloor prevention in the sectors concerned.
|
|
|
|
| |
27/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
26/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
26/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
25/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
22/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
21/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
20/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
19/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
18/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
18/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
13/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
08/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
06/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
06/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
05/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
05/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
06/02/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
Thirty-odd European trade unionists, researchers and European Commission representatives attended a seminar on protecting workers from chemical hazards in Amsterdam on 21 and 22 January. The seminar was called by the ETUI-REHS Health and Safety Department to take forward the trade union debate on REACH implementation, the development of a new international classification and labelling system, and the setting of occupational exposure limit values for carcinogens.
|
|
|
|
| |
28/01/2008
|
|
|
|
| |
28/01/2008
|
|
|
|
| |
23/01/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
17/01/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
16/01/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
15/01/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
10/01/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
08/01/2008.
|
|
|
|
| |
 For the past two years, the ETUI-REHS Health and Safety Department has been involved in the work of an international network of experts looking at how working conditions play into social inequalities in health. A draft report was submitted to the WHO at the beginning of November. Laurent Vogel contributed to the report’s contents through the insights he gave into trade union action on social inequalities in health.
|
|
|
