The General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) today challenged labour ministers to stop the ‘organised exploitation’ of migrant workers taking place across Europe.
At the meeting of employment ministers held in Alborg as part of the Danish EU presidency, Esther Lynch told how workers are threatened with reprisals if they speak out against stolen wages, dangerous work and appalling living conditions.
She made the speech days after visiting Borgomezzanone, a makeshift settlement in Puglia, Italy, where 2,000 migrant workers live in shelters made of scrap metal or plastic without running water or sanitation.
The ETUC called on labour ministers to take the following action to end this kind of exploitation:
- Equal treatment in law and practice for all workers, regardless of migration status;
- Access to justice including through more labour inspections and class actions by unions;
- End the use of letterbox companies, gangmasters, and exploitative subcontracting chains;
- Make access to EU and public funds conditional on quality jobs covered by collective agreements.
Speaking at the meeting in Denmark, ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch said:
“Borgomezzanone is not an isolated scandal or a few rogue employers. This is organised exploitation. Abuse is the business model and it goes all the way to the top. And it’s not confined to agriculture - we see it in construction, transport, logistics, care, hospitality.
“As Ministers for Labour and Employment, you know this reality. You see the loopholes in law, the lack of resources for enforcement, the abuse of subcontracting and the impact of intermediaries, the impunity of employers who build their profits on outsourced exploitation.
"We call on you to halt the proposals to remove guardrails arriving with the fleet of omnibus as this will allow exploitation to persist and grow. Fair mobility will be turned into a driver on the race to the bottom. You should not allow calls for competitiveness to become a cover for injustice.
“Fair mobility must be a two-way promise: Opportunity for workers. Responsibility from employers and governments. Decent employers have nothing to fear from strong labour rights. In fact, fair mobility protects workers and rewards fair employers. Social dumping is cheating and it drags everyone down.”
