EFFAT represents the interests of over 4.5 million workers across Europe in the food and drink sector. As the largest in Europe, this is a key EU area in terms of workforce, innovation and high quality products. The EFFAT mission is to fight social dumping and reach fair pay and decent working conditions. Through its active participation in the social dialogue at European level, EFFAT negotiates agreements with European employers’ organisations that aim to improve workers’ conditions
Deputy General Secretary (with responsibilities for Food, Drink, and Tobacco Sector): Wiebke Warneck – [email protected]
Chair: Susanne Uhl (NGG, Germany)
Deputy Chairs: Gaël David (FGA-CFDT, France) and Lea Väänänen (SEL, Finland)
Together with CEFS, EFFAT is proud to launch the 18th joint CSR report, this year focused on a topic reshaping our industry: the integration of Artificial Intelligence. The EU beet sugar sector isn't just an economic pillar - producing - 50% of global beet sugar -...
Today, more than 200 dairy workers at FrieslandCampina Leeuwarden will strike, continuing a wave of labour actions across the Dutch dairy sector. The issue While FrieslandCampina reports record profits, workers are seeing their purchasing power being eroded. EFFAT's...
The sugar sector in Europe is under high pressure, companies are not making profits, production is slowing down and workers are losing their jobs. Six companies closed across Europe since the beginning of 2025 alone, meaning more than 1000 jobs lost. These figures...
EFFAT's project "Strengthening Social Dialogue in the Agri-Food Sector in South-Eastern and Central-Eastern Europe" aimed to strengthen social dialogue and collective bargaining across the EU agri-food sector, with a particular focus on South-Eastern Europe (SEE) and...
Brussels, 8 March 2026 – On International Women's Day, EFFAT reaffirms a simple message: gender equality is not a slogan. It is a collective bargaining priority, a workplace right, and a trade union responsibility. EFFAT knows it well. Through the recent campaign...
EFFAT's project "Shaping a Just Transition for the Workforce in the Tobacco Sector" was launched with the objective of putting workers and their concerns at the centre of the discussion, the project has provided an important platform to discuss the challenges and...
As the European tobacco sector undergoes rapid transformation driven by health regulation, digitalisation, automation and outsourcing, EFFAT today urges EU policymakers and companies to commit to a just transition that protects workers, quality jobs and social rights....
EFFAT is concerned by the Commission’s “Food & Feed Safety” initiative and calls it for what it is: deregulation that threatens the wellbeing of agro-food workers and consumers alike. The European Commission has made the callous decision to weaken the core pillars...
Brussels, 10 December 2025 | On Human Rights Day, EFFAT warns that the political deal on the EU Sustainability Omnibus reached yesterday sides with reckless corporations over workers and the planet, gutting accountability and leaving communities, in Europe and across...
Brussels 3 December 2025 - Today, union federations EFBWW, EFFAT, and ETF, along with workers and MEPs, gathered outside the European Parliament to show their support ahead of the EMPL Committee vote on the report addressing abusive subcontracting and unregulated...
