Letter sent to Mr. Thomas Myrup Kristensen, Facebook Managing Director EU Affairs, Head of Office and Mrs. Marisa Jimenez Martin, Director of Facebook Public Policy and Head of EU Affairs

Dear Ms Martin,

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), recognised European social partner under the EU Treaties and comprising 90 national trade union confederations in 38 European countries (plus 10 sectoral European trade union federations), was informed today of Facebook’s recent trade union busting experiments via your ‘Facebook Workplace’ application and which allows for so-called “content control” by employers to remove and block certain topics among employees and to have words like “unionize” blacklisted.

ETUC firmly opposes these practices and would like to remind Facebook that union-busting and other discriminatory activities towards trade unions, their representatives and workers (like blocking access to the (digital) workplace or blacklisting information on trade union activities and workers’ matters at the workplace)  is in Europe absolutely prohibited by the international and European human rights standards the European Member States have committed themselves to. Practices, like via your Facebook Workplace, are in clear cut violation with the freedom of association as recognized under the UN Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 8), the fundamental ILO Conventions n° 87 and 98 (on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining), the Council of Europe European Convention of Human Rights (Article 11) and European Social Charter (Articles 5 and 6). Moreover, in the EU context, such practices run fully against the trade union and workers’ rights as they are recognized in the EU Treaties, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 11 and 27), and the European Pillar of Social Rights (Principle 8).

Read the full letter here.