The European Parliament today adopted the Balas report on ‘social dumping within the European Union’.

Today’s decision is significant in the context of the forthcoming negotiations on the controversial directive on posted workers.

Commenting after the vote, Greens/EFA member of the Committee for Employment and Social Affairs Jean Lambert said:

“The social exploitation of cross-border workers must end. As European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker correctly noted in his State of the European Union speech, the EU is not social enough. The European Commission now has an opportunity to show that it is serious about delivering a more social union.

“It is the sad reality that many workers today, especially in agriculture, catering, and health and care services, are experiencing what amounts to systematic exploitation. This has to end and we need EU-wide rules to ensure adequate remuneration, better inspection, cross-border cooperation and an EU-wide blacklist of exploitative companies.”

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“Workers’ Rights need defending and strengthening and I will continue to demand progress both in the UK and across Europe.”

As a Member of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee in the European Parliament, Jean plays an integral role in improving workers’ rights and creating better conditions for work across Europe.

Jean has worked with numerous trade unions on a wide range of campaigns and this leaflet covers her achievements and the legislative developments on:

– Working time
– Living wage
– Agency workers
– Posting of Workers Directive
– Green work and skills
– Green Reps

Download here: Workers Rights

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If we are to have long-term sustainability and develop a truly Green economy, we have to take care that we foster environmentally-friendly businesses which use resources efficiently: that includes its workforce.

If we are demanding that businesses provide social and environmental audits, we need the accountants and other professionals that can do that.

If we want builders who can construct energy-efficient buildings, we need to train them. Hence our call for all EU funded training initiatives to take the environmental dimension into account.

Social inclusion is a key component of a sustainable society: hence the need for a guaranteed minimum income to provide for basic needs: we need to combat discrimination and poverty and hence the Social Agenda has a role in creating a sustainable society.

Hence our call for rapid progress on enabling people to work efficiently through effective consultation and participation, reduced working hours and good quality work in safe working conditions, supported by an effective system of social security.

Strong local economies have a vital role to play in, for example reducing transport requirements and maintaining social cohesion so we want to see the budget lines maintained to support that

Sustainable development is about creating a world in which there are no losers. As the Commission’s Communication points out:

“Sustainable development offers the EU a positive long-term vision of a society that is more prosperous and more just and which promises a cleaner, safer, healthier environment – a society which delivers a better quality of life for us, for our children and for our grandchildren.”
(It’s a pity the Nice Treaty missed this opportunity!)

We cannot achieve this if we continue with policies that pull in different directions and even undermine each other: we have to find an effective way to ensure integration and sustainability.

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