Workers' rights must be enhanced in EU law

The European Parliament shares LO’s opinion that workers’ rights must be enhanced in EU law
A report on challenges to collective agreements in the EU, written by Jan Andersson, Swedish social-democratic MEP, was adopted on 22 October by the European Parliament with a large majority. The MEP’s are critical of the way the European Court of Justice has interpreted the Directive on Posting of Workers in the Laval, Rüffert and Luxembourg cases and do not want to support a European Union based on competition on wage and working conditions.

- It is very positive that the European Parliament, representing all political groups and member states, stand behind the criticism delivered by LO regarding the ECJ rulings. By making the EP aware of problem and by presenting a compromising proposal, Jan Andersson’s report is an important work, Wanja Lundby-Wedin, LO President, states.

The European Parliament wants to restore the principle of equal treatment of posted workers and local workers. Furthermore, the EP considers that there is a lack of balance between the fundamental rights of the EU, such as the right to take industrial action, and the free movement. A solution would be that EU primary law must be changed so that balance between the economic and social dimensions of the EU can be obtained.

It remains to see whether there will be a revision of the Directive on Posting of Workers, as suggested in Jan Andersson’s report. The European Parliament decided that a revision shall be preceded by a an impact analysis in the member states.

- This must not be an excuse for putting off the necessary amendments of the Posting Directive. A revision of the Directive will be an important issue in the coming elections to the European Parliament. What we reasonably can ask of those from Sweden running for the elections to the EP, is that they do not give their support to a Commission that opposes amendments to the Posting Directive, Wanja Lundby-Wedin says.