LO and TCO comments on the Laval Judgement

LO and TCO in their comments to the Government Official Report on the Laval judgement
Amendments to the EU law are necessary

Most of the problems created by the so-called Laval judgement can be solved within the structure of the Swedish collective agreement model. We therefore welcome the main approach in the findings of the Report. However, in order to guarantee equal treatment of foreign and Swedish labour, amendments to the EU legislation will be needed.

This is the comment by LO President Wanja Lundby-Wedin to the Swedish Government’s inquiry into the consequences of the Laval case, which has in its final report proposed action in order to address the consequences for Sweden of the ECJ judgement.

In their joint official reply to the Government’s report, LO and TCO criticise the fact that by proposing a new provision to the Posting of Workers Act, which gives a possibility for an employer to refer to an already existing agreement for posted workers, a loophole will be opened for unserious companies. This proposal goes beyond what is required of Sweden in the ECJ judgement and is not necessary. On the contrary, this proposal implies a risk that unserious companies, which claim that they apply equal conditions to those in Swedish collective agreements, can ignore Swedish wages and working conditions. Thereby, many posted workers risk to be left without any protection in Sweden.

LO and TCO also consider that the exemption from the ban on night work that is proposed for companies in the EEA is unjustified.

The Government’s Report proposes that the new rules will enter in force in April 2010. LO and TCO however are of the opinion that they should be in force on the 1^st of January 2010 at the latest.