The day prior to the official launch of the European Labour Authority (ELA) on Wednesday 16 October, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) reported nine cases of worker exploitation to the new European Agency.
"Trade unions successfully fought for changes to EU rules to ensure equal pay and rights for posted workers. The new European Labour Authority should play a crucial role in ensuring they are vigorously upheld", said ETUC Deputy General Secretary Per Hilmersson, who also represents trade unions on the Management Board of the new ELA. According to him, we must crackdown on "rogue employers" who "are making big profits from social dumping".
The two trade union organisations state in their press release that their reports mainly concern cases of workers sent from Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Slovenia to work in Germany, Austria and Denmark. More specifically, they concern cases of posted workers paid "significantly less" than local workers, withholding of holiday pay and sickness benefits, companies not paying social security contributions or simply bogus postings.
The European Labour Authority is one of the key social achievements of the Juncker Commission. The Authority, based in Bratislava, will inform citizens and businesses about their rights and obligations in cross-border situations, facilitate the exchange of information between Member States and joint inspections - at the request of Member States - in a cross-border situation in cases of fraud, abuse and undeclared work and, finally, may play a mediation role in disputes between two Member States (see EUROPE 12194/1).
To consult the cases reported by the unions: http://bit.ly/33wZYou (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)