European Social Charter—political will needed

Robust enforcement of the European Social Charter is key to strengthening workers’ and trade-union rights across Europe.

The European Social Charter has been rightly described as the ‘social constitution of Europe’. This Council of Europe treaty encompasses in a single text the most comprehensive catalogue of fundamental social rights in the world.

On paper, the charter guarantees a wide range of human rights, including key workers’ rights—such as the right to fair remuneration, reasonable working time and protection against unfair dismissal. It also enshrines workers’ freedom of association, collective-bargaining and collective-action rights, including the right to strike. Furthermore, it covers crucial social rights in relation to employment, social housing, mental health, education, social protection and welfare, protecting vulnerable people—in particular where this touches children, families, women, senior citizens and migrants—and preventing discrimination.

Having been ratified by 42 out of the 46 Council of Europe member states (Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Switzerland have signed but not yet ratified), the charter also covers almost the entire European continent. With its associated case law, it forms an ideal basis for the protection of social, workers’ and trade-union rights, in particular in states outside the European Union, including those en route to accession. It serves as a compass and source of inspiration for the EU and its member states to implement the social rights and policies embedded in the treaties—particularly the social-policy chapter of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, led by article 151—as well as the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Pillar of Social Rights (with explicit reference in paragraph 16 of its preamble).

Not fully delivered

Yet despite all this, the European Social Charter ‘system’ has not fully delivered on its potential, mainly due to lack of political will among member states and procedural complexity. The latter stems in part from the coexistence of the initial 1961 and 1996 revised (RESC) versions of the charter, the fact that states parties can ‘cherry-pick’ specific provisions for ratification and the inadequate number of ratifications (only 16 member states) of the 1995 protocol providing for collective complaints.

The European Trade Union Confederation welcomes the Council of Europe’s High-Level Conference on the European Social Charter in Vilnius in July, as an attempt to breathe new life into the treaty and its supervisory mechanisms. But the ETUC calls on member states to do much more on ratification to achieve social justice in Europe.

Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Switzerland, which signed the treaty two decades or more ago, should finally complete ratification of the revised charter. Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Iceland, Luxembourg, Poland and the United Kingdom must also urgently ratify the RESC, to permit the streamlining of the normal reporting system and the complaints procedure. And ratification of the collective-complaints protocol by the 30 remaining member states is crucial, since this allows national and international trade unions to use their collective strength to highlight and remedy denials of social, workers’ and trade-union rights.

Encouraging further commitments

The Vilnius conference comes in response to the Reykjavík declaration, agreed at the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe in 2023. ‘Social justice is crucial for democratic stability and security,’ said the declaration and in Reykjavik the member states reaffirmed their ‘full commitment to the protection and implementation of social rights as guaranteed by the European Social Charter system’.

The event in Lithuania is designed to recognise the significance of social rights in underpinning democratic governance and preventing ‘backsliding’, and to encourage countries to make further commitments under the charter. It is the latest stage in the most recent Council of Europe reform process to reinforce social rights and establish effective monitoring procedures.

That process was triggered by the work of the organisation’s Steering Committee of Human Rights (CDDH), to which the ETUC, as a permanent observer, actively contributed. In 2019, this led to two reports on the protection of social rights in the Council of Europe framework, including numerous recommendations to improve the implementation of social rights throughout the charter and its supervisory mechanisms. These were complemented by dedicated proposals, including from the European Committee of Social Rights and the Governmental Committee—like the former, one of the charter organs—as well as a High-Level Group of Experts on Social Rights appointed by the secretary general, Marija Pejčinović Burić, who also contributed herself.

This led to the Committee of Ministers, representing the Council of Europe member states, adopting in 2022 a reform package aimed at modernising the charter system. The ultimate goal is to assist national governments in ensuring respect for social rights in line with their commitments. Emphasis is placed on the need for enhanced dialogue between the charter organs, governments and stakeholders (trade unions, national human-rights institutions, equality bodies and other civil-society organisations).

Holding governments to account

Over the years, the ETUC has worked actively with the Council of Europe. In 2011, on the 50th anniversary of the charter, it recalled its role as the cornerstone of fundamental social-rights protection in Europe and referred to its achievements. But it also listed changes needed to improve its efficacy, yet to be implemented. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary in 2021 (25th for the RESC), the ETUC again urged member states to ratify and implement all the charter instruments and protocols and raise awareness of its provisions. It called on the EU to adhere to the European Convention on Human Rights as well as the revised charter.

The ETUC continues to hold governments and companies accountable for continuously increasing human, labour and trade-union rights violations. On the measure of the Global Rights Index from the International Trade Union Confederation, Europe’s average rating for respect of workers’ and trade-union rights worsened this year from 2.56 to 2.73, continuing a long-term deterioration from 1.84 in 2014.

In the action programme adopted at its congress in May 2023 in Berlin, the ETUC reaffirmed its longstanding commitment to defend and enforce human, labour and trade-union rights. It has stepped up via ETUCLEX (its new human-rights, legal and strategic-litigation support structure), its activities and its engagement with the Council of Europe—particularly the monitoring bodies and procedures of the charter—to hold governments (and corporations) to account.

The ETUC has a long and successful record of action in various fora, including the Council of Europe, on trade-union rights, fair and equal pay, opposition to austerity, unfair dismissal, occupational safety and health, privacy and data protection. Together with its affiliates from Belgium, Bulgaria and the Netherlands, it has submitted four collective complaints in the charter procedure, on the right to strike (and collective bargaining), and more than 50 observations in the framework of pending or processed collective complaints launched by international non-governmental organisations or other trade-union and employer organisations.

It is also increasing pressure on the EU to accede to and ratify the revised charter and the collective-complaints protocol, and on European governments to make further commitments. It will continue to call on the EU institutions to ensure that in the design and implementation of legislation and policy, in particular under the European Pillar of Social Rights and the European Semester, all relevant Council of Europe and other international human-rights instruments are respected.

More political will

The ETUC has been extremely active in the various expert groups and working parties set up since 2019 to improve the charter system, including the CDDH-SOC subgroup, the GT CHARTE initiative (under the auspices of the Committee of Ministers) and the dedicated reform working group within the Governmental Committee (where the ETUC also has charter-based observer status). It urges member states to show more political will and accept more commitments by ratifying more charter instruments and protocols.

At the meeting of the Governmental Committee last month, however, only one country (Belgium) declared it would adopt an additional paragraph of one charter article. Others remained silent or even announced that no further ratifications would follow in the coming years. The intended ‘treaty event’ at the conference, where member states will be ‘invited to deposit instruments of ratification or acceptance of further Charter provisions or the collective complaints procedure or transmit letters indicating an intention to accept further commitments under the Charter or the collective complaints procedure’—described by one member state (the UK) as ‘overly ambitious’—risks being a hollow affair, an outcome no one can afford.

Another intended outcome is a ‘political declaration’. Successive drafts have been cumulatively weakened due to lack of political ambition by member states. There is little to no reference to issues such as trade-union rights or EU accession to the charter. The ETUC has submitted amendments to highlight the crucial role of social partners in promoting social rights, but it is unclear to what extent these will be taken on board through the opaque political decision-making process.

The red thread through the new reform process is the need for ‘enhanced dialogue’ between the charter organs, governments and ‘all relevant stakeholders’, including national and international trade unions. The European trade-union movement has delivered in improving the charter and its supervisory system. The political declaration should explicitly acknowledge and respect this contribution, recognising and reaffirming the vital and treaty-based role trade unions play in the (reformed) charter system.

The ETUC pledges to continue its engagement with the Council of Europe, particularly the charter monitoring bodies and procedures. But with a cost-of-living crisis restricting access to many of the rights embodied in the charter—such as freedom from poverty and social exclusion, to housing, protection for migrant workers, social welfare and a decent standard of living—governments need to invest more to make these rights a reality.

In a context where the rise of the far right poses a severe hazard for social and human rights in Europe, it is more important than ever to give new impetus to the European Social Charter. The Vilnius conference needs to do more than reiterate worthy sentiments. It is high time to walk the walk for more and better trade-union, workers’ and social rights in Europe.

This is the fourth article in a series on the European Social Charter in the run-up to the conference in Vilnius

Isabelle Schömann is deputy general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation. She was elected at the ETUC’s 15th Congress in Berlin in May 2023. Previously, she served as ETUC confederal secretary between 2019 and 2023.