EFFAT Academy for capacity Building

ongoing

Under the framework of the European Pillar of Social Rights and in line with the political priorities of the 2024–2029 Commission, EFFAT – the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions – aims to strengthen social dialogue and collective bargaining in some of the EU’s most precarious sectors. In light of recent initiatives such as the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages, the Val Duchesse Tripartite Declaration, and the La Hulpe Declaration on the Future of Social Europe (16 April 2024), EFFAT seeks to address declining trade union membership, limited resources, and representativeness gaps that hinder effective social dialogue to realise EU social goals. To address these challenges, EFFAT proposes a two-year project through the EFFAT Academy, a series of capacity-building events and trainings engaging both EFFAT affiliates and our European sectoral social partners. The project will focus on: 1) Enhancing the inclusion of underrepresented groups – such as young, migrant, mobile, and women workers, particularly in Southern and Eastern Europe, in EFFAT affiliates' structures; 2)Strengthening the capacity of affiliated trade unions to engage in meaningful social dialogue and collective bargaining on critical issues including precarious work, working time reduction, and workplace democracy; 3)Engaging with social partners to implement the goals of the 2024 Val Duchesse Declaration and the 2023 Council Recommendation on strengthening social dialogue, and identifying representativeness gaps to enable follow-up actions in priority countries. By building trade union capacity and promoting social partner engagement at sectoral level, the project aims to reinforce the European social model and ensure inclusive, sustainable social progress in the food, drink, agriculture, tourism, and domestic work sectors