International

The European Parliament today ratified the agreement with the Council of Ministers on a new law designed to counter the abuse of the posting of workers within the EU. ‘The existing European rules governing posting of workers leave a great deal of scope for exploitation and displacement on the labour market,’ SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong explains. ‘This is about illegal practices, but also about adept use of existing legal loopholes. I voted against the proposal, however, because it offers no guarantee of equal pay for equal work. Moreover, it’s more of a restriction than a reinforcement of checks on illegal practices. Market fundamentalism has won out here over protection for workers. It’s disappointing to see that the Greens and some of the social democrats voted in favour.’

Members of the European Parliament from every major political group, under the leadership of the SP’s Dennis de Jong, today met with European Commissioner for Transport Siim Kallas. De Jong handed the Commissioner the first wave of protest letters from Dutch, Belgian and Danish drivers. The meeting followed yesterday’s appearance of an investigative report on the transport sector from Kallas, a report which, in De Jong’s view ‘fails to come up to scratch in any way. The Commission predicts with confidence that wages in Europe will even out: in other words, the Dutch driver must simply be content with half of his or her customary salary. It does acknowledge the existence of social problems, but fails to see in these any obstacle to the liberalisation of domestic road transport. Kallas confirmed that the Commission is not itself intending to propose further liberalisation, but for fully a year he has made no move whatsoever to tackle appalling conditions in the road transport sector.’