The International conference about “The European legal framework for safety laws for employees on the test bench”, organized in the framework of EZA training program by PODKREPA CL was held from 8th to 10th of February 2018 in Sofia. The conference was attended by 52 participants, including high-level Bulgarian officials such as the Minister of Labour and Social Policy, the National Employment Agency’s Deputy Director; EZA, PODKREPA CL and CITUB Presidents, EESC members and trade unionists from Romania, France, Belgium, Portugal, Austria and Bulgaria. The conference was funded by the European Union.
The conference’s main objective was to develop proposals for legislative steps and for trade unions’ initiatives to support the effective implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR). A second objective was to summarize trade unions’ positions and involvement on the Revision of Posting Workers Directive and subsequently to propose actions to fight social and wage dumping. In addition, the event provided the opportunity to profit from the EU Presidency of Bulgaria to increase the commitment of workers’ organizations to put upward convergence across the EU on wage and living standards on the top of the EU political agenda. Thus, the welcoming addresses of the speakers from the first, political panel outlined those key issues, related to the conference’s objectives with an emphasis on the importance of adequate trade union actions to take advantage of the present window of opportunity. Considering more than twenty years of crisis and wrong, neoliberal policies, the present initiative for a EPSR is Europe’s first attempt to restore its social dimension. In that respect, workers organizations should effectively seize and profit from that opportunity, by implementing initiatives to place jobs and working people at the heart of EU Agenda. Hence, it is important for workers’ organisations to develop a credible selection of priorities, benchmarking core aspects such as the increase of wages, the improvement of working conditions and social protection which reduces inequalities – in short to build a fairer and more inclusive EU. The message that the political panel conveyed was: ‘social policies have returned to the EU agenda - it is now up to the institutions, social partners and civil society to make sure that the EPSR becomes a reality for workers and citizens. It is time for actions, for legislative proposals, for consultations to prepare the set of legal measures and practical actions to implement the Pillar.’
According to the program, the political panel was followed by presentations delineating the specific situation in participating countries. It was not a surprise that each intervention, representing the situation in seven different EU countries, reported similar and alarming trends: austerity entrenched poverty and disappointment in Europe. Living standards of EU citizens are deteriorating: we are facing growing inequalities, material deprivation, restrictions of social benefits, of pensions, increased job insecurity, limited work-place democracy, undermined collective bargaining. As those negative trends were underlined by every speaker, during the subsequent debate, participants agreed that is time for reaction - trade unions may not permit further pauperization in Europe, may not accept further limitation of workers’ rights. It’s time for mobilization. Workers organizations should develop a common vision on EU policies and directly address institutions with concrete demands – the first of which should be on wage rise and on minimal social standards’ settings. Secondly, trade unions’ egoism should be overcome: workers’ organizations should push for more solidary and have courage to protest. In addition, it was underlined that trade unions should return to their main instrument for pressure – the organized protest and industrial actions – it‘s not a moment to stay passive, but to become an active actor, a responsible player in the restauration of European social dimension. Similarly, next to taking legal initiatives, trade unions should advocate during the negotiations for the next multi-annual financial framework to have enough funds available to integrate the Pillar in the European Semester, as well to make full use of the Social Scoreboard. This scoreboard was introduced by the pillar to assess the social and employment performance of their countries, reflecting the three chapters of the pillar: equal opportunities and access to the labour market, dynamic labour markets and fair working conditions, public support/social protection and inclusion.
The conclusion from the presentations and debates was as follows: it is evident that in EU countries there are both differences and similarities, but Europe cannot progress if it neglects workers and citizens. Europe needs its human resources to achieve growth and sustainability. Thus, trade unions should work for common social standards for European workers – common, but not unique - which means to have a common understanding of what is socially fair. And that will be the challenge: to overcome egoism between countries and organisations and to promote the solidarity, the EU core values.
On the second day the attention was turned to two specific topics contributing to a fair and social Europe: the Revision of the Posting of Workers’ Directive and the necessity to establish a wage convergence alliance to fight social dumping. Dr. Paunita Petrova presented the agreement, reached by the EU Council and the Commission. Explaining those recent legal developments, she stressed the fact that trade unions should continue to put pressure in order to guarantee a fair deal for posted workers. The presentation provoked a very animated discussion as well as comments on the necessity to set more ambitious standards for equal pay for equal work at the same place. The trade union demand is that the remuneration of posted workers should not only include the minimum rates of pay, but also elements such as bonuses and social allowances. Speakers stressed that the effective enforcement of the principle Equal pay for Equal work at the same place is the only way to ensure equal working conditions for both posted and local workers, eliminating wage differentials and social dumping. Second, speakers confirmed that the unfair exploitation of posted workers puts pressure on the wages and conditions of workers everywhere, including the receiving country. Thus, the recognition of collective agreements is the only fair outcome. In addition, the most abusive forms of cross-border posting were discussed – the so called “triangular posting”. Such schemes involve chain posting where, usually, a company in country A recruits a worker in country B, offers them a work contract based in country C and posts the worker to country C. The purpose of such arrangements is to obscure the employment relationship and to make it difficult to identify the usual place of work of the worker, as well as the country where social security contributions should be paid. For this reason, trade unions should increase the international exchange and cooperation to end these fraudulent practices.
After the debate and based upon the comments, a proposal was formulated by the Vice-president of the French EZA member organisation CFTC, Joseph Thouvenel, to cooperate closely with PODKREPA by signing a separate bilateral agreement and to provide advice on employment contracts of posted workers on a reciprocal basis.
As a result of the very extensive exchange, the following general conclusions were formulated from the trade unions’ position:
- The Posting of Workers Directive was used as an instrument to mistreat workers and undercut labour and social conditions in host countries. It must go back to its original role of combatting social dumping and guaranteeing full respect of equal rights.
- The principle – equal wage for equal work at the same place should be strictly guaranteed: after the Revision of the Directive, posted workers should not only be paid the official minimum wage, but also the local applicable collectively-agreed wages if they work in another EU country.
- The posting of workers creates a conflict between the free movement of services and labour on the one hand, and the basic workers’ rights of freedom of association and industrial action, on the other. Therefore the proposal for a European Labour Authority could help address the different challenges arising from the posting of workers.
- Trade unions are supporting the establishment of effective and dissuading sanctions against companies, multinationals, suppliers throughout the production chain which cheat on workers’ pay, or which commit serious labour rights violations.
The mapping session on trade union involvement for fighting social and wage dumping included contributions from participants and a general debate on how to tackle the pay and employment gaps. Interventions stressed the fact that in order to limit social dumping practices, a clear, strong political response is needed. Firstly, trade unions have to demand for adequate monitoring and enforcement of existing labour norms and standards. Secondly, in order to combat social dumping, the fundamental right to collective bargaining and collective action should to be strictly respected. EU legistlation should therefore promote the unionization of workers, in order to protect them from abusive employment practices. This is particularly important for vulnerable workers in atypical employment situations and posted workers. Unionization is essential to empower workers, to protect them against abuses and exploitation and to enable them to better exercise their rights. Moreover, new structures
providing advice and support for posted and migrant workers must be created in all Member States with the support of the EU and the participation of trade unions.
Summarizing the outcomes, International confederal secretary of Podkrepa Veselin Mitov informed participants on the social priority axes of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. In the area of employment and social policy, Bulgaria will work to transform the positive economic growth to be used to the maximum extent to strengthen member states’ resistance to future crises, to create jobs and to improve social justice as well to promote the upward convergence in all social fields, including wages. The ambitious goal is to make sure the needs of European citizens are the focal point of the political agenda and to initiate modernization of European labor legislation in the field of social security, which eliminates labor market inequalities, including the pay gap between women and men. Unity and justice are the underlying principles of Bulgaria’s vision for the development of tools such as cohesion policy which should generate effective joint action and strengthen the social dimension of the EU. Trade unions, together with the other social partners, are ready to actively contribute to those goals through partnership, social dialogue, collective bargaining and workers’ participation, at the relevant levels. At the same time, trade unions should insist on significant change to EU policies to better support social partners, and to invest in social dialogue and capacity building structures. This entails action to establish or strengthen collective bargaining systems, particularly at national and sectoral level.