Richard Arthur, our head of trade union law, is today representing EPSU in a case against the European Commission (EC) in front of the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

It is the first time a trade union has made a claim against the European Commission under any of the EU Social Policy provisions.

This is an important case as the judgment will determine the ongoing rights of European Union social partners to negotiate agreements at EU level, which will have the force of a directive on matters of labour and social law, impacting millions of workers across Europe.

Commenting on the case, Richard Arthur, said: “It’s a privilege to be working on such a significant case for EPSU, which represents such a vast number of public sector workers across the EU.

“The challenge is to annul the Commission’s decision not to make a proposal for a directive to the Council. Once the social partners have reached an agreement, and requested the Commission to put forward a proposal, it is required to do so.”

“Having delayed for two years, the Commission tried to reserve to itself a political discretion not to put forward the social partners’ agreement for implementation by means of a directive. This breaches the Social Policy provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, contradicts the Commission’s own previous guidance and practice, undermines the autonomy of the social partners (which was supposed to have been strengthened by the Lisbon Treaty) and perpetuates unequal treatment against public sector workers.”