European Trade Union Committee for Education

The European Social Dialogue takes place at a cross-sectoral level between the ETUC and the cross-sectoral employers' organisations (BusinessEurope, CEEP and UEAPME) as well as at a sectoral level.  The cross-sectoral European Social Dialogue has produced several pieces of the EU social legislation, among which the agreements on parental leave (1996, revised in 2008) and revised in 2008, part-time work (1997) and the fixed-term contracts (1999).

• Work Programme
• Joint Documents
• Cooperation with the European Commission

During the recent years, ETUCE urged the European Commission to invite the social partners to more dialogue on policy initiatives of the European Commission on education and training. As a result, the European Commission initiated a dialogue with the cross –sectoral social partners (ETUC, BusinessEurope, UEAPME, CEEP), and with the social partners of the European Sectoral Social Dialogue in Education (European Trade Union Committee for Education - ETUCE and European Federation of Educational Employers - EFEE). During the meetings, the social partners and the European Commission drafted a joint document, entitled:  "High-level proposals of the Social Partners to guide the way forward for a strengthened cooperation between the Commission's education and training services and the European social partners in the field". The six Social Partners presented the proposal to Ms Androulla Vassiliou, European commissioner for education and culture (2009-2014) on 16 October, 2013.