SD Extractive Industries

Social partners

Workers' representatives: industriAll European Trade Union

Employers' representatives: European Association of Mining Industries (Euromines) & European Association for Coal and Lignite (EURACOAL) & European Industrial Minerals Association (IMA Europe) & UEPG - European Aggregates Association & APEP - European Association of Potash Producers

Social dialogue in this sector covers:

• mining of hard coal, lignite, iron and non-ferrous metal ores, and minerals
• extraction of peat and salt
• other mining and quarrying and support activities.

The activities covered in this sector are mostly those defined by NACE (Rev. 2) codes 05 (Mining of coal and lignite), 07 (Mining of metal ores), 08 (Other mining and quarrying) and 09 (Mining support service activities). The extractive industry covers both energy and non-energy raw materials, but excludes the extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas.

In the EU, the sector employs approximately 740,000 people (2013), employed in some 19,000 enterprises.

Priorities of the Committee include health and safety, skills and competences, exposure limits of NO/ NO2/CO, climate change and the resulting obligation to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and environmental management, raw materials as well as attracting young people for the sector. Significant job losses in the EU resulted from Economic crisis and decline production, as well as coalmine closures in Europe and international competition.

Areas of activities and projects

The Committee is currently focusing on:

• restructuring the different types of the sector and re-skilling of workforce,
• health and safety (sharing of useful practices, implementation of training programs etc.), Risk prevention (assessment and prevention)
• roadmap on training, education and life-long learning,
• monitoring the implementation of the energy union strategy, CCS directive, Raw Materials Initiative and European Innovation Partnership (EIP) as well as Circular Economy Package,
• implementation of the social dialogue in new Member States
• working group “Heavy Industries” is working on a European standardized catalogue for occupations of the sector .

(copied from EC - Sectoral social dialogue)
(Image: IG BCE)