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                           <title><![CDATA[TU Matters March 2010]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[PARLIAMENT PROPOSES MATERNITY PAY RISE
The European Parliament&rsquo;s Women&rsquo;s Rights Committee has voted in favour of improved maternity and paternity rights for workers in the European Union (EU). At the end of February the Parliament&rsquo;s Committee voted in favour of a redrafted response to the Pregnant Workers Directive which would mean increasing minimum maternity leave to 20 weeks from the current 14 weeks (the European Commission are proposing 18 weeks and the World Health Organisation recommends 24 weeks); fully paid maternity leave at 100% of the woman&rsquo;s last monthly salary or her average monthly salary; at least 6 weeks compulsory...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:52:19</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[TU Matters December 09]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE GAINS IMPORTANT VICTORY 
October saw members of the European Parliament&rsquo;s Employment Committee voting in support of an end to the opt-out from the 48 hour week. In Committee, the vote was 34 for, 13 against and 2 abstentions. Labour MEPs ensured that Scottish workers be given the chance to enjoy the same rights as workers in other European countries. The crucial vote will be held in the European Parliament on 17 December when I will be voting in support of an end to the opt-out. If the European Parliament fails to get an absolute majority reversing the...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Euro TU Matters Nov 09]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[BIG THANK YOU TO THE SCOTTISH TRADE UNION MOVEMENT On behalf of my colleague Catherine Stihler MEPs and the rest of the Scottish Labour team of European candidates in the European Parliamentary Elections I would like to say a big thank you to all the trades unions who individually and collectively assisted us with our campaign. Without your help, in a bad year for Labour, we could not have retained our two Scottish seats, fought off the challenge from the SNP and insured that no BNP candidate was elected in Scotland. All those on the campaign were truly impressed...]]></description>
                           <link><![CDATA[euro-tu-matters-nov-09]]></link>
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                           <pubDate>Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:52:12</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[TU MATTERS SEPTEMBER 2008]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[NEW SOCIAL PACKAGE DOES NOT GO FAR ENOUGH
This month the European Parliament held its first debate on the European Commission&rsquo;s new &lsquo;social agenda&rsquo;, a package of 18 measures designed to reinvigorate Europe&rsquo;s social dimension. However, the Socialist Group in the European Parliament (PES) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) do not believe that the measures so far announced go far enough. Both the PES and the ETUC believe that the European Union (EU) is still prioritising the single market over the social dimension. The ETUC has suggested that what we need in order to achieve an invigorated social...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Assistant Secretary's speech to European Forum Glasgow June 2008]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[Mary Senior Assistant Secretary of the STUC spoke to the Glasgow European Forum on Saturday 28 June on &lsquo;Europe Equality and the Unions&rsquo; : Europe, Unions and Equality Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak at your policy forum today. I&rsquo;ve always been a strong supporter of Europe, and working in the mid 1990s for Scottish Labour Euro MP Hugh McMahon, really shaped my belief in a progressive social Europe which works to benefit working people and their families across and within national state boundaries. When the UK was experiencing the worst excesses of the Thatcher and Major...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[TU MATTERS JUNE 2008]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[LABOUR CALLS FOR COMPREHENSIVE EUROPEAN ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAWS  Labour MEPs in the European Parliament are calling on the European Commission to honour the pledge it gave in its 2008 Annual programme to bring forward a European Directive to extend anti-discrimination legislation. We want to see comprehensive European legislation outlawing discrimination on the grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation. It appears that Conservative governments and MEPs are putting pressure on the European Commission to limit its new draft directive only to discrimination on the grounds...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[TU MATTERS DECEMBER 2007]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[STANDING FIRM ON BURMA Economic and political action by Burma's neighbours would make its vicious military regime sit up and take notice and it is time for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) states to take action. I have called for signatures to a written declaration in the European Parliament requesting ASEAN states to remove Burma from the EU-ASEAN free trade agreement negotiations, and if they will not, to halt the negotiations altogether. Glenys Kinnock, Burma Campaign Patron, has stated: "the EU's subscription to human rights will be severely questioned if...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[TU MATTERS SEPTEMBER 2007]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[EUROPEAN ELEMENT IN REMPLOY CRUSADE  Last month I took part in the Remploy Crusade, organised by the Remploy Trade Unions Consortium, at the factory in Wishaw to highlight the important European element in the campaign against the proposed factory closures. The European angle in saving Remploy factories and jobs could come through securing high quality contracts through Public Procurement. After a joint campaign between the Trades Unions, European Parliamentary Labour Party and the Socialist Group in the European Parliament the EU Directive on Public Procurement was amended to include Article 19 which allows public authorities to award orders...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[TU MATTERS MARCH 2007]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[TIME TO ADDRESS OUTSOURCING OF SCOTTISH JOBS  This month I have asked a range of questions to the Commission calling for them to make steps to deter the outraegous type of outsourcing that is leading the loss of 120 jobs at Young’s langoustine shelling plant in Annan, Dumfries. In light of Young’s decision to move shelling activities to Thailand, I have asked the Commission to address the issue of whether Young’s still have the right to call their Scampi “Scottish”. I am also calling on the Commission to take steps to discourage firms from shipping food half way...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[TU MATTERS JANUARY 2007]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[With issues such as working time, health and safety, and employment rights being decided in Brussels, it is imperative that trade unionists are kept well informed and engaged in what is going on at the European Union (EU) level. For this reason I am producing this quarterly newsletter, timed to coincide with quarterly STULP meetings. David Martin MEP  REACH LEGISLATION PASSED  A deal struck between the European Parliament, Commission and Council means the REACH (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorisation of Chemicals) legislation will come into force in stages from June 2007. The successful passage of REACH through the...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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