EFFAT

Mission

EFFAT is the European Federation of Trade Unions in the Food, Agriculture and Tourism sectors resulting from a merger concluded between two European trade union federations - the ECF-IUF and EFA - on 11 December 2000. As a European Federation representing 120 national trade unions from 35 European countries, EFFAT defends the interests of more than 22 million workers towards the European Institutions, European industrial federations and enterprise management.

EFFAT is an autonomous European trade union federation. As a member of the ETUC, EFFAT promotes its members' interests in all European interprofessional issues jointly and with strength. As a regional organisation within the IUF, EFFAT also defends its members' interests world- and sector-wide.

In recent years EFFAT has set up European Works Councils in more than 100 transnational groups and has a successful social dialogue underway in - among others - the agriculture, hotel & restaurant, contract catering, sugar and tobacco sectors.

EFFAT supports its member organisations in Central and Eastern Europe to develop free and solid trade unions. For many years EFFAT has given its support to the sustainable development of agrofood and tourism policy in which ethical, social and ecological aspects are considered. Only safe and high quality food can also guarantee safe jobs and working conditions.

EFFAT joins call for corporate environmental and human rights accountability

EFFAT has teamed up with over 80 other trade unions and NGO’s in demanding EU Commissioner-designate for Justice, Didier Reynders, bring forward comprehensive legislation mandating companies to observe and respect human rights and environmental imperatives throughout their global supply, value and operating chains.

We believe it is time for a due diligence framework that ensures companies and financial institutions that operate within the EU – even if simply providing a service or product – are held to account for any abuses and harm in their domestic and global operations. Moreover, by instituting a corporate duty to respect human rights and the environment, companies would have more encouragement to self-check – that is, identify, mitigate and prevent any upstream abuses in their operations themselves at an earlier stage. Finally, and coupled to this, the legislative framework proposed would provide for adequate recourse to justice for victims of corporate abuses.

Thus far, the absence of sufficient oversight in favour of a good-faith reliance on businesses to ‘do the right thing’ has proven wholly unsatisfactory, demonstrably failing to prevent widespread environmental damage and human rights violations. This needs to change. EFFAT, together with our co-signatories and partners, will keep advocating for a Europe with respect for human rights and environmental protections at its core, where businesses cannot continue to abuse fundamental, international standards with impunity.

Read the joint letter here: Joint Letter – Corporate Due Diligence

Link on EFFAT Website

#StrongerEFFAT

www.effat.org/5congress

EFFAT

European Federation of Food Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions

———————————————————————————————–

Maddalena Colombi

Communications, press and campaigns

Youth & LGBTQ officer

T.+32 (0)2 209 62 62 | M.+32 (0) 488 337 409

Av. Louise 130a Boite 3, 1050 | Brussels 

www.effat.org | m.colombi@effat.org

Hotel workers fighting for rights!

Marriott housekeepers in Zürich strike for direct permanent employment

Hotel housekeepers at Marriott’s Sheraton Zurich Hotel went on strike on August 30 to highlight their intolerable working conditions and to demand direct permanent employment. When workers learned that the hotel had terminated their contract with the cleaning contractor and it would expire in two months’ time, they decided on strike action.

Continue reading here

Cambodia: Hotel Casino Union President suspended in attack on collective bargaining rights

Management of the 5-star Naga World Hotel Casino in Pnom Penh has suspended the union president as it escalates its attack on the union and its campaign to collectively bargain wages for the first time following nearly two decades of struggle for formal recognition and collective bargaining rights.

Continue reading here

UN Human Rights Council names AccorHotels Myanmar business partner in report on military business interests and crimes against humanity

A new report to the current session of the UN Human Rights Council identifies dozens of companies with direct and indirect ties to the military (Tatmadaw) that enable this powerful institution to operate with impunity while committing crimes against humanity. Among the companies listed is the conglomerate Max Myanmar Group, a business partner of AccorHotels.

Continue reading here

EFFAT Congress is only 50 days away!

This is an event of paramount importance for all EFFAT affiliates, but also a great opportunity to spread across Europe a strong, clear and united political message.
To do so in an appropriate manner, we also need to have a strong communication strategy and the support of our affiliates.

We are therefore here to ask for your contribution on 4 specific actions:

1) Like it and Share it!  – We need your social media help, starting now!

It is of absolute importance that you:

  • Follow EFFAT on twitter: @EFFAT_org
  • Like EFFAT on Facebook: EFFATPress
  • Invite all your members to follow us on social media
  • Use the Congress dedicated HASHTAG already from now for all social media news related to EFFAT and Europe:  #StrongerEFFAT
  • Share, translate and retweet our posts towards and during Congress
  • Place the Congress logo on your homepage (available for download here) with a direct link to the EFFAT Congress website

A calendar of social media launches will be available soon to you and your communication departments.

2) Use the Congress to raise awareness on Your campaigns and fights!  Call for banners and slogans

We will be around 300 delegates at the Congress. We must use this massive strength to promote your fights and campaigns!
The Congress can be the place where your campaign gets further visibility and where we can better show our solidarity and support to your fight. We aim at having several banners carrying the slogans of many international or local campaigns. Photo actions can be organized on the spot.

Please inform the EFFAT Secretariat m.colombi@effat.org as soon as possible about:

  • Slogans /campaign that are relevant to you
  • Availability to carry banners – that would be of course appreciated

A list will be drafted up according to your responses

3)  We want to reach out your communication department!

It is relevant that most of the communication circulars before congress reaches the right communication people so that it can be further disseminated at national level also with local press.

  • Please share with me (m.colombi@effat.org) the email addresses of the people in charge of communication press and social media
  • Can you send him/her to Congress? As you know resources for communication at EFFAT are quite limited. We need help onsite if we want our message to be delivered in an appropriate manner. If some communication savvy colleagues could be with me in Zagreb, messages would be amplified, and we’d organize a motivated team on the spot. How great!

4) Call for video and photos

We are preparing a video to be launched during the Congress and, in general, we are specifically looking for videos to promote the work of our members.

  • Please send us your high-resolution pictures both of workplaces and demonstrations (thanks to those who have already done so).
  • Professional video footages can also be very useful.

We hope this is not too much in view of congress and we thank you very much in advance for your collaboration on this.

Of course, should you need any info or have great ideas you want to share, do not hesitate to get in touch with the EFFAT Secretariat m.colombi@effat.org !

In Solidarity,
Maddalena

#StrongerEFFAT

EFFAT

European Federation of Food Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions

———————————————————————————————–

Maddalena Colombi

Communications, press and campaigns

Youth & LGBTQ officer

T.+32 (0)2 209 62 62 | M.+32 (0) 488 337 409

Av. Louise 130a Boite 3, 1050 | Brussels 

www.effat.org | m.colombi@effat.org

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