Social Partners in LRG adopt revised guidelines on migration and anti-discrimination practices

Social Partners on the European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee on Local and Regional Governments,  meeting today in Brussels, approved and adopted the revised EPSU-CEMR Guidelines on strengthening anti-discrimination measures in Local and Regional governments.

The revised guidelines acknowledge the importance of inclusion in the labour market as a key factor when it comes to inclusion in society. They also recognize the need to accelerate the recognition process of asylum seekers and to shorten the time from arrival to work. In that inclusion into the labour market is one of the most significant strategies that local authorities can pursue.

Commenting on today’s development EPSU Policy Officer Christine Jakob stated: ‘These guidelines reflect the natural competence of local governments, when it comes to addressing  and promoting the importance of labour market integration of both documented and undocumented migrant workers’.

Mads Samsing, President of EPSU’s Standing Committee for LRG and Chair of today’s meeting warmly welcomed the agreement stating: ‘I am happy to see these guidelines adopted. We now have the tools to move forward in our work with migrants. These guidelines emphasis the crucial importance of local and regional governments in the successful integration of migrants into European society’.

Malin Looberger President of CEMR told the committee, ‘now we have adopted these guidelines, we can get on with work. It is important that these guidelines are implemented in our local work within local and regional and governments. This cannot be just a paper document that sits on our bookshelves’.

These guidelines were originally published in 2014.