(12/1/2012)

23 years after the total ban of asbestos in Switzerland, the number of fatal cancers is still growing. In the years to come around 2500 people will die in Switzerland from asbestos, as shown in calculations of Suva. "The issue of asbestos will occupy Switzerland for a long time", says Thomas Guidon, insurance specialist at the consulting firm Milliman. According to calculations of Suva statistician Stefan Scholz, in the next decade an average of over 100 people per year will die in Switzerland...

(22/12/2011)

The financial and economic crisis in most European countries is affecting the shape of labour and social relations as well as the quality and the level of social dialogue. In the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, this effect is strongly negative and destructive to the trade union movement.The EFBWW notes a number of phenomena which are signs of the worsening conditions for trade union activity in the construction, wood, furniture and forestry sectors. This applies both to economic...

(22/12/2011)

with the Finnish trade unions regarding the modern slavery practices on the building site of the nuclear power plant Olkiluoto 3 – OL 3 (Finland) Northern Europe’s largest ever industrial project - the OL 3 project - that will be delivered on a turnkey basis by the French-German consortium formed by AREVA NP and Siemens AG - was heavily criticized at the EFBWW General Assembly in Palermo (December 2011), as the building contractors have repeatedly been violating workers’...

(22/12/2011)

with the UK trade unions regarding the announced pension reforms in the UK At the EFBWW congress in December 2011, our UCATT colleagues highlighted the united UK trade union actions against the unilateral and unacceptable pension reforms, imposed by the Conservative government in the UK. On 30 November, millions of workers rallied against the pension reforms, dictated by the Conservative government in the UK. At the moment the UK has one of the lowest State pensions in the EU and...

(19/12/2011)

“Building a Social and New Europe – for More and Better Jobs in the Construction and Wood Sectors” The EFBWW organized its 11th General Assembly in Palermo 1-2 December 2011. Domenico Pesenti from FILCA-CISL in Italy was re-elected as President for the federation, Alain Clauwaert from De Algemene Centrale, ABVV in Belgium was elected as First Vice-President, Zbigniew Janowski from Budowlani in Poland was elected as Second Vice-President and Sam Hägglund was re-elected as...