The right to strike at risk
There has always been an uneasy compromise
between employers and workers at the heart of the ‘European
project’.
Sometimes, workers’ rights have been to the
fore, in the form of equality, pay or consultation directives.
Right now though, a triple whammy of rulings
by the ill-named European Court of Justice (ECJ) is
threatening to push this delicate balance seriously out of kilter
in the opposite direction - with dire implications for workers
right across Europe.
In 3 recent cases the ECJ has moved to
decimate rights of collective action, including the right to
strike.
In the ‘Laval’ case, a construction company
from low-wage Latvia won a contract to build a school in Sweden.
The company refused to sign a collective agreement with the Swedish
construction union, but instead did so with a Latvian one which did
not observe the Swedish collective agreement standards. In
response the Swedish union took collective action in the form of a
blockade of the site and got sympathy action from other
unions. The Latvian company went bankrupt, but the ECJ have
held the Swedish union liable for their losses.
The ECJ ruling on the case means that unions
cannot take action against companies employing imported workers at
rates below those for local workers, except to defend wages up to a
universally applicable minimum. For the UK it this means the
National Minimum Wage.
In the earlier case of ‘Viking’, a Finnish
shipping line sought to evade a union agreement by re-registering
its ship under the Estonian flag so it could instead employ workers
from Estonia at lower cost. The ECJ held that this was fine:
worker’s rights to collective action are less important than
market freedom of access to cheaper workers.
That theme has run through all 3 decisions;
the ECJ stated that the right to strike only exists where it is
‘proportionate’ and ‘justified’, and their test for those is
heavily weighted in favour of exploitative employers.
In the ‘Rüffert’ case the ECJ cut the member
states’ power to make law to protect worker rights. It
overruled the German regional government of Lower Saxony, which
makes its contractors ensure that local union-backed labour
standards are maintained. This case could be used to destroy
progressive agreements that we have won, like the GLA requirement
for its contractors that they pay at least the ‘London Living Wage’
(currently over £7 per hour) instead of the lower National Minimum
Wage.
These cases prevent our members being able to
take collective action to defend industry agreements where labour
is imported from elsewhere at cheaper costs and/or on worse health
and safety and other terms.
They also prevent action aimed
at ‘levelling up’ wage rates of imported workers.
There is also a risk that the ECJ could move
to hold that the same rules will also apply to unions and employers
from within the same country.
An example of how these cases could affect us
would be if a foreign EU based labour agency got a contract to help
build the Olympic facilities. They could under cut the wage rates
and safety provisions in the NIECE agreement for the construction
sector, and we would not be legally able to take industrial action
in opposition.
Another case might be if the NHS contracted
with foreign health service providers but asked them to pay the NHS
agreed rates to staff. That requirement could be ruled
unlawful.
These ECJ decisions are a disaster for UK
workers, and for the foreign workers who, in solidarity, we seek to
level up. Unite has been ahead of all UK unions in taking up
this issue and seeking urgent change.
I have already raised the issue personally
with union colleagues in Europe; the Prime Minister Gordon Brown
and MEPs,. More action is planned and we will keep you informed and
provide campaigning materials in a dedicated area on the
website.
Let’s reclaim Europe for workers
rights instead of bosses.
Derek Simpson
Joint General Secretary
July 2008
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