In 2016, Yves Verschueren, Managing Director of essenscia Belgium, was elected President of the European Chemical Employers Group (ECEG), which represents the chemicals, pharmaceutical, rubber and plastics industry and is a key stakeholder and sectoral social partner at EU level. This gives essenscia the opportunity to reinforce dialogue between social partners to further develop the chemicals industry in Europe.
In June 2017, Yves Verschueren and Michael Vassiliadis, president of industriAll European Trade Union, signed the “European Framework of action on sustainable employment and career development”, which aims to reinforce the social dialogue at EU level. This framework includes a toolbox with best practices within the sector from different EU Member States on issues such as how to attract young talent, ensure well-being at work, foster work-life balance, tackle age management issues, ensure healthy workplaces and promote lifelong learning. On this occasion, ECEG and industriAll also signed a joint declaration on BREXIT, to feed into the negotiations with the aim of strengthening the European chemical industry.