IndustriAll Europe expresses its deep disappointment following the publication of the European Chemical Employers’ (ECEG) new position paper, ‘EU Legislation: ECEG’s Proposals for Burden Reduction in EU Social Affairs (‘Social Omnibus’).’ The proposal, released last week, calls for a wide-ranging overhaul of long-standing social legislation, from social security coordination to posting of workers, pay transparency, trainees’ rights, and the European Works Councils Directive.

This initiative comes as a surprising and troubling shift from what we believed was a shared understanding with our social partner: that the chemical sector’s real and urgent challenges today are high energy prices, falling demand, trade pressures, and the accelerating wave of closures and restructuring. Workers across Europe are living this crisis every day. Entire sites are shutting down. Families are left without answers about their future.
In this context, ECEG’s push for a “social omnibus”, aimed at rolling back worker-focused legislation, is not only misguided. It is opportunistic, and it distracts from the existential issues the sector must urgently confront.

Let us be clear: rights for trainees, gender equality measures, and social protections are not the problem facing Europe’s chemical industry. Undermining them will not solve the energy crisis. It will not reopen closed plants. It will not save a single job. What it will do is undermine trust, fracture our social dialogue, and weaken our ability to present a united front to the European Commission and the Member States at the precise moment when unity is essential.

IndustriAll Europe calls on ECEG to reconsider this approach and refocus its efforts where they are truly needed: on safeguarding Europe’s industrial base, protecting jobs, and developing concrete, forward-looking solutions for the sector’s competitiveness.

Our message is simple: turn your attention back to saving our industries and our jobs. Workers deserve nothing less.