Freedom of movement of workers in the hotel and catering sector (3 days)
652.41.EWC

Course report

Trade union representatives from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland and the Netherlands gathered at this seminar in Budapest discussed how

• to face the challenge of the free movement of workers in a broader Europe
• to contribute to the ETUC’s initiatives to carry out its action plan on migration

Mr Harald Wiedenhofer, General Secretary of EFFAT, welcomed the participants and stated the background and the objectives of this seminar. The issue of migrant workers and cross border mobility within the European Union constitutes a concern for trade unions especially in the agricultural and tourism sectors.

Mr Bohumir Dufek, from the Czech trade union OSPZV-ASO, described the situation in the agriculturel sector and the impact of on employment and working conditions of workers. Employment in the sector is decreasing at the same time as the wage gap between migrant workers and residential workers is raising. Employers tend to use migrant workers to dump wages and migrant workers are often part of the black economy allowing employers to escape social contributions and taxes.

According to Bohumir Dufek, the seminar should focus on the following questions:

• Why do migrant workers work for lower wages than residential workers?
• Why do migrant workers seem to be afraid to join unions?
• Why do some employers employ migrant workers at lower conditions?
• What kind of subventions should the EU have for the agricultural sector?

Reviewing the impact of the free movement of workers in EFFAT sectors and the European legal & economical background

Mr Harald Wiedenhofer summarized the social impacts of free movement of workers in the various sector and the risks of social dumping connected with the various form of employment for migrant workers. Eric Dresin from EFFAT introduced a presentation about mobility of workers versus migration from a legal and economic point of view. The commission is preparing a number of initiatives attempting to regulate some conditions on the labour market for migrant workers. (Download his presentation from the Seminar documents section of this Home Page.

Free movement of workers: Example of the agriculture sector

Mr Arnd Spahn explained the trends in the agriculture sector. Seasonal employment for migrant workers from so well "new" EU countries as non EU countries has increased. Employers make the use of opportunities to recruit migrant workers. More than two million Polish workers work in other EU countries at least for some periods at the same time as Ukrainian, Moldavian workers have to be recruited to fill the gaps in the agriculture sector in Poland.

Polish workers in Germany enjoy lower terms and conditions compared with German workers. For the employer the average competitive advantage can be evaluated to 1000 €/month due to lower wages and taxes and social contributions. The lack of EU norms about minimal social security allows also savings for the employers.

Some practices have been developed between EFFAT and it's affiliates:

• To inform migrant and seasonal workers about their rights
• To survey social safety nets in member countries
• To discuss best practices in order to represent migrant and seasonal workers
• To try to integrate migrant/seasonal workers in company representation bodies

Integration of migrant and ethnic minority workers.

Presentation by member organizations of best practices and discussion
Agriculture - a summary of presentations and discussions:

Migrant and ethnic workers should be allowed to work under the same terms and conditions as residential workers. But employers tend to exploit them. Several European Industry Federations have adopted Solidarity Pacts which should provide for mutual protection of workers from other countries. There is still space for improvement in the implementation of those provisions. The most heavily exploited workers are daily or seasonal workers crossing borders. In many cases employers do not respect the provisions of collective agreements for that kind of workers.

How could migrant workers be organised? Trade unions are prepared to open the borders for workers from the new EU countries provided that the tools are set in place to enforce collective agreements. But national governments are often reluctant to adopt legislation. Trade unions have tried to offer services to seasonal migrant workers by coming into contact with them and informing them about their rights with help of leaflets and Web Sites in the languages of those workers. In the Netherlands FNV Bondgenoten tries to train organisers speaking the languages of migrant workers and offers trade union vouchers with legal coverage for group of migrant workers. Special attention has to be paid to self employed workers. Offering those workers the possibility to become a member of a national union in the country where they work constitutes a problem since they would have to apply for membership when migrating to the next country.

Polish workers going to EU-15 countries come mostly from the poorest part of Poland leaving the agricultural sector under heavy restructuring.

Migrant workers are often recruited by international temporary agencies specialised in dumping wages and threatening workers not to renew contracts if they complain.

Integration of migrant and ethnic minority workers.

Presentation by member organizations of best practices and discussion
Food, beverages, tobacco and tourism sector

In the tourism sector in France the main problem is seasonal workforce from other EU countries working under contracts from their home country. French trade unions are in favour of European mobility for seasonal workers provided that they are granted the same terms and conditions according to the sectoral collective agreements.

In Norway the problems are relatively limited to the construction sectors. In the tourism sector mobility encompasses mostly Swedish youngster working in hotels.

Aage Jensen presented the Vasco da Gama project aiming at integrating immigrants into the Danish labour market through vocational and language training. Although limited the project was a success. More information can be found on the Home Page of the Danish trade union at www.3f.dk

Arnd Spahn introduced the Web site EFFAT is setting up to facilitate exchange of information for the agriculture sector. Information will be available about working conditions, social protection, number of seasonal workers

EFFAT demands for a decent migration policy

In working groups the participants discussed the following issues.

1. How to secure transparency about the conditions of migrant workers in the EU?

• Who migrates to which country in order to work where?

Only national authorities have the resources and the legal means to gather this kind of information about individuals. It's unsure if this information can be made available for trade unions other than in consolidated form.

• How can migrant workers get access to information about their rights about terms and conditions?

Web sites and contact offices between trade union as the one the Norwegian Fellesforbundet has set up in Poland could be an example.

All agencies which are sending workers to other countries should be submitted to authorization

National labour authorities should have the exclusive right to manage the posting of workers to other countries this would provide the same rights for EU internal migrant workers

Trade unions are opposed to work relations created without the control of labour market authorities.

Information should be transmitted be labour market administrations. Trade unions can also provide information on the basis of contacts established by labour market authorities.

2. How could social partners contribute to the integration of migrant workers at the workplace and in society?

• Contribution of trade unions in the fields of information and organising?

Affiliates should take responsibility to inform each other and EFFAT about all changes. The information needs of migrant workers can partly be covered by Web Sites. EFFAT is developing such a system which will allow affiliates to get data about working conditions and social protection in member countries. Bilateral activities as those set up between Fellesforbundet in Norway or IG Bau, Agrar und Umwelt and Polish organisations could serve as a model for other activities.

• Contribution of employers?

• Common contribution employers & trade unions?

• What should the duties and tasks of national authorities be?

Integration of seasonal workforce is of course difficult but their rights need to be protected as well as those of national employees. It should be a task for trade unions to take their interests into account even if it's difficult to recruit and organise them especially when serious infringements are taking place. National authorities have the duty to supervise and control working conditions and fight illegal and undeclared work which constitutes a serious threat also for employers respecting labour and tax regulations.

3. How can the cooperation between trade unions affiliated to EFFAT be developed in order to secure the rights and conditions of migrant workers?

Networks between trade union organisations are a way to increase the coordination. Exchange of information is benefical and we should improve it also on bilateral basis. In several sectors and multinational enterprises Codes of Conduct related to Corporate Social Responsibility have been agreed about also within the framework of EWCs. In several cases such codes of conduct have been used by trade unions to pressure local or central management to improve the conditions of migrant or seasonal workers.

4. What kind of legal changes and/or European regulations should be adopted in order to protect migrant workers?

Since migration within the European Union also is a result of the creation of a single labour market, European Institutions and authorities should have a specific duty to monitor the social impacts of this deregulation of national prerogatives. A modest demand from the trade union movement could be that a survey about working conditions for migrant workers should be conducted in order to investigate and compare their H&S and other terms and conditions with those of residential workers.

Social reports like those provided at company level in France and Belgium and CSR are tools that can be used and should be made mandatory in information and consultation procedures in EWCs and in national information & consultation bodies.

5. Do we need to increase immigration from third countries? If yes under what conditions?

Trade unions are not opposed to immigration provided that immigrant workers are granted the same terms and conditions than their colleagues and that strong control mechanism are set in place to ensure this. Immigration from third countries is already an established fact and the forthcoming demographic evolution will only contribute to increase such trends.

Holger Bartels, IG BAU - Bundesvorstand explained the activities of his trade union in favour of migrant seasonal workers. About 320 00 Polish workers are regularly employed in the agriculture sector, mostly for periods of two months with the consequence that the Polish agriculture sector now has to rely on seasonal workforce from Ukraine and Byelorussia...

Christian Juyaux, CFDT, presented how the conditions for seasonal migrant workers of the Club Med have been regulated, download his presentation from the Seminar documents section.

Werner Buelen, EFBWW, introduced the experiences of his European Industry Federation and affiliated trade unions. His presentation can be downloaded from the Seminar documents section.