Workers Demonstrate in Europe

AP, 28 May 1997

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP)—Thousands of union members formed a human chain around European Union offices Wednesday to press for increased workers' rights.

Organizers said the protests—marking the European Day for Employment—sought to pressure EU leaders to include a section on workers' rights in the constitution governing the 15-nation bloc.

That document—the Maastricht Treaty—is scheduled to be revised next month at a gathering of EU leaders in Amsterdam.

The estimated 10,000 protesters included workers from Renault's factory in the Brussels suburb of Vilvoorde. The plant has been the scene of work stoppages since Renault announced earlier this year it was shutting the factory and moving production to plants in France and Spain.

In a speech to marchers, Emilio Gabaglio of the Confederation of European Unions said the focus of the EU has been on business and industry—rather than on workers and citizens.

The European Union can not continue to restrict itself to a large single market—not when there are 20 million unemployed people, and 60 million people living under the poverty level, Gabaglio said.

If the European Union cannot rise to meet these challenges, then it doesn't have a future, he said.