BRUSSELS, June 1 (Reuters) - The European Union defended on Tuesday the need for austerity measures to help governments cut their budget deficits, but promised trade unions it would pay attention to the problems that reforms could cause workers.
EU member states including Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy have announced austerity measures to placate nervous financial markets worried by Europe’s debt problems, causing fears of labour unrest and strikes. [ID:nLDE64Q1OF]
Laszlo Andor, the EU’s employment commissioner, told labour leaders in a speech that the executive European Commission wanted a strong dialogue with unions.
"Europe’s economy is under the stress of financial markets speculation, while national governments face excessive public deficits and must engage in austerity programmes," he told a meeting of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).
"In all of this, I would like to highlight the importance of social dialogue and the commitment of the Commission to promote it further — especially in times of crisis."
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso would meet a union delegation on Friday to discuss the social impact of the economic crisis, he said.
A spokeswoman for the ETUC, which represents 82 trade union organisations in 36 countries, said the speech had been well received but the EU must now follow up on its promises.
"Good words should be followed by action," she said.
Trade unions face a choice between acquiescing to the austerity steps and possibly angering their members, or fighting them with strikes and risk a market backlash that could make the economic situation worse. [ID:nLDE64R13B]
Unions complain that the poor and public sector workers are being made to pay the cost of the mistakes of the rich. Greek workers have staged strikes, Italian unions say they will strike in June and Spanish unions have threatened action.
Andor said he shared unions’ concerns about the social consequences of austerity measures and the Commission was monitoring the situation closely. Creating jobs and reducing unemployment remained priorities, he said. [ID:nLDE65019A]
Economic growth could be raised, despite concerns that the austerity moves could slow it down. "Let me be clear, austerity is not the only game in town. To overcome the crisis, we will need growth. And we can produce growth," he said. "We must make sure that GDP (gross domestic product) levels rise this year in the majority of member states. And next year we must make sure we see job growth."
