Since the proclamation of the European Pillar of Social Rights by the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission at the Gothenburg Social Summit on 17 November 2017, the educational work of the EZA has supported and accompanied the implementation of its 20 key principles, which are grouped into three chapters on “Equal opportunities and access to the labour market”, “Fair working conditions” and “Social protection and inclusion”.
The project coordination conducted by EZA in the 2018/2019 educational year, with a total of five seminars, had at its core the conviction that workers’ organisations have a central role to play in the implementing of the 20 key principles. Although the European Pillar of Social Rights only expresses recommendations that are not legally binding in nature, it was nevertheless acknowledged by workers’ representatives in the seminars as the most significant EU social policy initiative of recent decades, putting social and employment questions at the very top of the EU’s political agenda.
Taking as a basis the presentations and discussions held in the seminars, this report identifies areas of action for workers’ organisations with regard in particular to fair wages, the protection of workers’ rights, equal opportunities for women and men and good systems of social security. It describes the potential for the European Pillar of Social Rights to contribute to an upwards convergence between member states in the social and employment sectors. It also shows how the European Pillar of Social Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development. Agenda 2030 can work together complementarily to protect people from poverty and social exclusion.
