CNV

The Danish Christian Trade Union (KRIFA), in cooperation with EZA, CNV and EO/WOW carried out a European seminar about challenges and possibilities in order to get better work-life-balance and equality in Europe. At the conference there were represented people from trade unions and other organizations from The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Macedonia, France, Malta, Lithuania, Serbia, Italy, Spain and Denmark.

Conference Issues:

1. Connections between work-life-balance and equal opportunities. How to make ends meet for both men, women, children and workplaces and how to focus on visions instead as status quo in order to reach for better ideals
2. What is the problem all about for men and women and what has been done in the context of EZA
3. What can we – as trade unions and in the collaborations we have – do in the European context? How can we influence commission and parliament and what do these institutions work with in connection to work life balance.
4. What has KRIFA done to improve work-life-balance on different levels? Especially the individual level of the members.
5. The experiences of participants from different countries according to untraditional solutions that improve work-life-balance and equality between men and women.

The 3 main conclusions of the seminar:

1. As organizations we need to focus on a holistic solution to improve work-life-balance and equality. This means that both the individual level, the workplace related level and the level of national and European legislation have to be dealt with. It is very important that people are aware of the possibilities and also that they are reachable for all kinds of workers – both sexes, all kinds of nationalities, people with all levels of income etc.
2. There is a good development of legislation on the European and national level but we have a very strong tradition to fight against in order to gain work-life-balance and equality. We need to address the choices that the individuals take in our societies. We also need to give people choices by providing for example high quality and low price kindergartens
3. As individuals we need to be aware of the personal choice, our own responsibilities and obligations. If we don’t communicate with our surroundings – spouses, friends, colleagues etc. – about the work-life-balance and how we would like to manage this then we tend to take bad choices for all the people and institutions involved. Society needs responsible workers and workplaces.

Short evaluation

The overall evaluation of the seminar is that it gave a new framework for understanding work-life-balance and equality between the sexes. For many participants the focus was initially on the economical level but ended up on the political level. We can do what we want together if we challenge tradition and perceptions and we can reach a win-win situation for workers and workplaces. A lot of participants said that they would go back to their organizations and try to change things. The president of the European Organization of the World Organization of Workers – WOW said that he would make sure that the EO/WOW will work on securing a better work-life-balance and equality in Europe through statements, activities and lobbying on a European level.

for resolution click here
(for pictures click here)