July 20.- The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) issued last May a Report for the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the Internationally Recognised Core Labour Standards in the European Union.
This Report reveals certain shortcomings in labor laws in the European Union (EU), including insufficient protection from anti-union discrimination and unreasonable restrictions on the right to strike.
It goes even further to criticize European Court of Justice rulings eroding fundamental workers' rights, and to outline persistent discrimination against women at work.
ITUC’s General Secretary Sharan Burrow declared that “EU support for core labour standards in several aspects of its own trading system is welcomed, including its Generalised System of Preferences (GSP+), under which developing countries that respect the core ILO standards are eligible for improved access to the European market."