SOCIAL CHAPTER

a section of the Maastricht Treaty that deals with people’s rights. It is a long document that proposes European laws to protect the rights of employees to be paid fairly and to work in safe conditions, the rights of old people and children to be treated fairly, the rights of men and women to have equal opportunities, and the rights of people to move freely between European Union countries. Every European Union country except Britain signed the document in 1992. It was signed by the British Labour government in 1997.