25 Years of Partnership: Shaping the Future of the Leather Industry through EU Social Dialogue
As COTANCE and industriAll-Europe celebrate 25 years of social partnership, we confidently look toward the future through our ongoing work at the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee (SSDC) for Tanning & Leather hosted by the European Commission. This October 15, 2024 we decided to launch the review of our joint roadmap 2020-2025. We will be looking onto the challenges ahead for the leather industry in the period until 2030, a key milestone on the road to Green Deal goals.
We are proud to see the good practices, tools and recommendations developed by the EU Social Partners gaining global recognition. After UNIDO taking over the OiRA tool for Risk assessment in tanneries, now the ILO has embraced the results of the Green Deal Leather project on "Injuries/Accidents in Tanneries" and will share this knowledge at an international workshop in Torino on 16-17 December.
Additionally, we addressed together key industrial issues such as leather durability, its biodegradability and the EUDR review. COTANCE raised concerns about the current method of measuring product lifespan in "wears" instead of years in the Apparel & Footwear PEFCR. We reaffirmed that the leather industry fully supports the fight against deforestation, but also referred to the overwhelming scientific literature dismissing leather as a driver of deforestation - supporting its exclusion from the EUDR - which was analysed in the recent study by Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies.
We are proud of the fruitful EU Social Dialogue in the leather sector and grateful for the support of industriAll-Europe on critical industry matters.
