Clean Industrial Deal a welcome step forward

After years of pressure from trade unions across Europe, the Commission this week (26/02) unveiled their Clean Industrial Deal proposal, which is aimed at jumpstarting European industry and our decarbonisation efforts.

This proposal is a landmark move, and contains many positive points. However, it does lack an urgency and underpinning of workers’ role which must be added in the European Parliament.

While investment of €100 billion in EU-made clean manufacturing, and the aim to create 500,000 are notable targets, workers need assurances that quality jobs, underpinned by social conditionalities in public funding, will be delivered.

The mobilisation of funds, as called for in the Draghi report, must be done with the vision of creating certainty for workers and investors, and is most easily delivered through a SURE 2.0 mechanism. In adopting this approach, the Commission would provide workers with safeguards that would allow the return on investment they crave.

Additionally, while funds will be made available for training, workers, in particular professionals and managers, will require a right to training – as part of working life, during working hours and at no cost to workers themselves – should industries successfully decarbonise. Funding, once again, is a significant element of the issue, but must be done within the correct parameters.

The allocation of masses of public funds to this deal must be coupled with a key role for trade unions in the workplace. The lack of any reference to our role (and instead kicking this issue to the Quality Jobs Roadmap) is not coherent with the Commission’s desire to keep workers and communities at the heart of decarbonisation efforts.

Trade unions must be central to the decision on the utilisation of public funds in order to protect public interests.

We welcome the focus on energy pricing and efficiency, and highlight that affordable energy prices must be made available to workers and companies alike for decarbonisation to occur. Reform of the energy sector and decoupling of electricity and gas pricing must be a consideration moving forward.

Regarding trade policy, we share concerns relating to human rights, standards, and social dumping within supply chains – all of which are issues we have similarly highlighted in our response to the omnibus packages put forward this week. Decarbonisation and stimulation of investment into Europe’s green economy must not come at the cost of our values, at home or abroad.

With this being one of multiple proposals set forward by the Commission in the coming months, we welcome the ambitious nature of the text, though emphasis the need for changes in areas relating to worker protection, training and the use of public funds.

Only when given the tools can workers deliver on our decarbonisation efforts.