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John Monks

John Monks

John Monks is a Member of the House of Lords, and former General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, the body representing workers and their national affiliates at the European level, with 82 affiliated trade union centres in 36 European countries. Before being elected to this role, he was General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress in the UK. He is also Vice-President of European Movement International, and chairman of the People’s History Museum in Manchester.

  • International

    Europe needs solidarity, not new rules

    28th February 2012 — Filed under: International

    John Monks John Monks

    Former TUC and ETUC General Secretary Lord John Monks sets out his views about the challenges facing the European Union and why trade unionists are right to protest tomorrow about the new treaty due to be discussed by Europe’s leaders at the summit at the end of this week.

    Tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of trade unionists across the European Union, and especially in the Eurozone, will be demonstrating against the EU’s austerity and for growth, solidarity and employment. Not only are these policies of austerity being forced on Greece, Ireland and Portugal, they are being enshrined in a new treaty coercing 25 EU countries (except the UK and the Czech Republic).

    Never was an EU treaty less needed.  There are already strict rules for countries in the Eurozone but they were broken and then made irrelevant by the large scale of the economic crisis.  We don’t need more rules.  That will not power Europe out of this crisis.

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  • International

    Looking back on eight years at the ETUC

    16th May 2011 — Filed under: International

    John Monks John Monks

    My eight year stint as General Secretary of the ETUC ends shortly and I will return to the UK to try to make sense out of a new role in the House of Lords. I leave with mixed feelings – regret at leaving active engagement in the exciting European project, coupled with pleasant anticipation about working once again in London.

    I leave with a sad sense that neither the EU, nor the UK for that matter, is in good shape, indeed worse than when I arrived 8 years ago – not quite the epitaph for my stewardship that I intended.

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  • Economics

    EU economic governance plans: more than a whiff of the Versailles Treaty

    14th February 2011 — Filed under: Economics, International

    John Monks John Monks

    At the end of 2010, EU leaders agreed a permanent crisis mechanism to try to safeguard the stability of the euro area. But the big risk now is that the EU will act towards weaker economies more in line with the punishment provisions of the Treaty of Versailles after 1919 than the generosity of the Marshall Plan after 1945.

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  • International

    Avoiding another Greek tragedy

    10th May 2010 — Filed under: International

    John Monks John Monks

    The intervention of the IMF in the British economy in 1976 cast a long shadow over the economic competence of Labour Governments. It was a time of national humiliation, a time that was not easily forgotten, and a time which dogged the Labour Party for over 20 years. I was in Athens last Wednesday (5 May) to join the Greek unions in protests against the EU/IMF/Greek Government deal. The sense of national humiliation was everywhere, producing tensions on the streets.

    The tragic deaths of three people after a firebomb was thrown into a bank were the work of an idiotic individual but other petrol bombs were tossed around and the risks of a serious incident were high. The incident overshadowed the large, peaceful demonstrations which also took place and in which I took part. The Greek unions are to demonstrate again to express their abhorrence at the deaths.

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  • International

    May Day 2010: Work in Europe at the crossroads

    1st May 2010 — Filed under: International, Working Life

    John Monks John Monks

    Today is May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, a commemoration of the struggle for decent working hours in the 19th Century, when American trades unionists gained rights to an eight hour day in many industries – a key victory for secure and decent work worldwide.

    121 years on from the first May Day celebrations, we find we’re standing at a crossroads for the world of work in Europe, one where there is a real risk of taking the path back toward 1889.

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  • Economics

    Greece and a New Social Deal for Europe

    8th March 2010 — Filed under: Economics, International

    John Monks John Monks

    The old joke “what’s a Greek urn?” has a new and depressing rejoinder: “a lot less than they did before the speculators arrived”. Throughout Greece, wages, pensions and services that ordinary people rely on are being slashed, and higher sales taxes are hitting their pockets, in an effort to compensate for the greed and speculation of a few ‘Lords of Finance’.

    At the ETUC, we’re increasingly concerned that Greece seems to be alone to face a renewed wave of financial market speculation, as heavily leveraged speculators take advantage of Greece’s debt crisis, exacerbating the country’s situation for a heavy profit. The European Council, the European Central Bank and the European Commission are giving an entirely wrong message: The speculators are to be left alone, whilst workers and governments are being pressed to cut wages, social benefits and public services.

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