Three European industrial trade union federations are on track now for delivering greater strength and power to workers in greater Europe. The European Mine, Chemicals, Energy Federation (EMCEF), the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF), and the European Trade Union Federation – Textiles, Clothing and Leather (ETUF-TCL) have adopted a strict timeline in order to conduct dissolution congresses and a founding congress on 15-16 May 2012 in Brussels.

A joint working group is expected to finalise statutes at a meeting on 8 November and that will be followed by discussion and ratification by the federations’ respective governing bodies in late November and early December. An initial joint executive committee meeting of EMCEF, EMF, and ETUF-TCL will then be held in Brussels on 30-31 January 2012.

Also in the weeks and months prior to the May 2012 creation of a single European industrial federation, four joint political committees will begin charting the future structure of the organisation. Those political areas are Industrial Policy, Corporate or Company Policy, Social Dialogue, and Collective Bargaining. Future work in the yet-to-be-named federation will happen under those headings.

Like integration on the global level between Global Union Federations, the European creation strives to reach workers’ hands across supply chains to make sustainable jobs the bulwark of future economies. The general secretaries of the three federations that are driving this are Michael Wolters (EMCEF), Ulrich Eckelmann (EMF), and Luc Triangle (ETUF-TCL).