Vision

This should become the reality within the next four to six years. Put in another way, we want to establish ourselves as a real monopoly - not only in legal terms, but also in professional terms. Developing and using knowledge means, in this respect, to conduct research, build up expertise and to be able to give scientific and technical support to the European trade union movement with a concern for excellence and with knowledge of the fundamental values of the European trade union movement. Competences means professional skills and abilities - that you will not find anywhere else in Europe - in assessing economic and social developments, working conditions and public policies, in giving technical and political recommendations and in promoting education activities and training programmes that will strengthen a European trade union identity.

These formulations point to efforts aimed at providing the kind of research, expertise and support needed in order to help decision-makers bring into being a Social Europe and to foster cooperative ways of developing policies, thereby promoting international solidarity, justice, prosperity and welfare, including giving protection to workers in the EU member states and workers in countries preparing to join the EU, and shaping a stronger European trade union identity . Intensive dialogues and cooperation with both trade union representatives and academics and research institutes will be decisive for the profile and reputation of the institute, which must perform a central European networking role as to expertise in relation to the world of labour. On the content side of the work, research, education and health and safety questions must be seen as strongly interrelated and activities developed in a more integrative, efficient and innovative way in the years to come.

MISSION

As an international non-profit-making association, the ETUI-REHS has been set up to conduct research and provide scientific, educational and technical support to the ETUC and its affiliates and to contribute to the development of Social Europeand social dialogue. This is the broad and basic mission of the Institute, reflected in article 3 of the Statutes, decided upon by the General Assembly of the ETUI-REHS on the 1 ^st December 2004. This is to be achieved via research, professional expertise, engineering and ergonomic involvement and training activities that help produce relevant knowledge, experience and support for the ETUC and other stakeholders. To establish itself as the central European knowledge and competence centre requires the ETUI-REHS to be a network-steering body that can organize and coordinate numerous academic and trade union activities, while also displaying and using its competences in arranging conferences, meetings, and workshops both in Western-, Central and Eastern Europe. Consolidated activities of the institute will to a large extent depend on the further development of such kinds of networking arrangements. At the same time the work must aim at securing the Institute the competences, capabilities and financial means necessary to conduct action-oriented research, provide expertise and to give relevant policy advice and recommendations.

Objectives

Three main objectives can be derived from this formulation of our vision and mission:

a) assembling documentation, conducting research, and producing studies on topics of strategic importance for the world of labour, while developing dialogue and cooperation with the academic and research community;

b) providing technical support in the field of occupational health and safety and protection so as to achieve a high level of health and safety protection for workers;

c) promoting education activities, programmes and exchanges so as to strengthen a European trade union identity.

These objectives are interrelated in a number of ways and the strategy of the ETUI-REHS is to try to focus the Institute's activities and concerns in ways that make it possible to use resources and capabilities jointly. The three 'old' institutes, ETUI, ETUCO and TUTB, will form the basis of the three departments of the ETUI-REHS. The effectiveness of the ETUI-REHS will be an external measure of the ways in which we meet wishes and demands - from the ETUC, its affiliates, the Commission and other stakeholders also. This is not to be measured in economic terms only; fundamentally it is a question of doing the right things in the right way. Or to put it differently: it will be a question of developing and using the resources and competences in a more optimal manner within the framework of the work programme of the Institute, set up and agreed upon by the political steering bodies on a yearly basis. The ETUC 10 ^th Statutory Congress adopted an Action Programme 'Make Europe Work for the People' in May 2003 and this constitutes broad guidelines for the priorities of the ETUI-REHS.

Common priorities 2005-2006

With the establishment of ETUI-REHS, a new trade union structure has been built which will enable a sharing of resources and boosting of capabilities in a way that gives added value to the work already being performed.

For the period April 2005 - March 2006, the overarching priority topics of the ETUI-REHS will be the following, each having a special focus on developments in Central and Eastern Europe and on the implementation of European policies:

a) Delivering the Lisbongoals , including the question of balance between the economic, social and sustainability pillars of the Lisbon 2000 strategy. The mid-term review of the strategy in 2005 and the national implementation of strategic guidelines will be monitored, analyzed and assessed, as well as being a central theme for educational activities. The further development of Community policies and of social dialogue heavily depends on the processes and results of the ongoing revision of the Lisbon strategy for growth, more and better jobs and sustainable development. How the delivery gap is closed will be one of the central questions to be addressed.

b) Protection of workers' interest and promoting workers' representation Implementation of directives as to health and safety and employee representation is central to the development of safety for workers and the safeguarding of wage-earner interests. The same is true of the need to strengthen workers' rights in multinational companies. Material aspects of regulation, including technical work, and procedural aspects of organizing influence through different channels and at different levels must be seen as interrelated.

c) Social dialogue and capacity building Different kinds of industrial relations system have been developed in European countries, and some of these ' especially those in the new member states ' are for the time being less firmly institutionalized or even embryonic. Across Europe, the trade unions are facing problems with capacity building, recruitment, organisation and in their efforts to gain political influence. Cooperative ways of solving problems on the labour market, as well as the development of public policies, are largely dependant on the way the social partners are recognized and integrated into the political processes at national and European level. The future of social dialogue and the problems encountered by the trade unions in building capacities and using different channels of influence will be dealt with.

These general priorities and work programme guidelines are mirrored in three departments' specialized work programmes in which you will find detailed information as to the specific projects, training and technical expert activities. The main activities of the ETUI-REHS and its common ways of operating are commented in the next chapter.