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BackFor the second time this year already, European, German and Austrian trade unions as well as the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour organised an expert debate on the Directive on the Award of Concession Contracts and on the Public Procurement Directive for MEPs and their staff. The discussion event was concerned with working conditions for employees working in the respective sectors, which now might be threatened by the Directive proposals.
Standing in for Thorsten Schulten of the Hans Böckler Foundation, Penny Clark commented that legal provisions on remuneration, such as the Fair Wage Resolution in Great Britain or the National Acts in the US, had been around since the 19th century. The International Labour Organisation also included a relevant regulation, i.e. Convention No. 94. Unfortunately, only 10 of the 27 EU Member States had so far ratified this Convention. Apart from legal provisions on remuneration, in particular collective agreements played an important role. Penny Clark therefore urged the MEPs to definitely consider the issue of remuneration in the Directive proposals and hopes that ILO Convention 94 will also be included in the legal text.
Rolf Gehring of the European Federation of Building and Wood workers warned that there was a great danger for employees that tariff standards would be undermined. Companies that honoured collective agreements would lose out whilst competitors without affiliation to collective agreements would pay their employees considerably less. This kind of “dirty competition” would lead to competition being distorted. Hence, in respect of public contracts, tariff standards and the entire tariff grid should be made mandatory; a voluntary basis would not have the desired outcome. In addition, Gehring demanded sanctions in case of infringements against labour and social law. Time and again, contractors and their subcontractors would violate regulations. The consequence of such violations had to be an exclusion of public procurement procedures.
According to Andreas Kahlert, works council of Wasserwerke Westfalen said that concessions would play a very important role in German water management: the sector of water supply and waste disposal had over 1,600 concessions, the majority of which was soon to expire. However, this sector should remain in the hand of the municipalities; apart from that, anything else would be in contrast to the Treaty of Amsterdam. The consideration of collective agreements in both Directive proposals was indispensable. In this context, Kahlert praised the amendment proposals introduced by the Austrian MEPs Evelyn Regner and Josef Weidenholzer as well as by the German MEP Jutta Steinruck (all Social Democrats).
The Secretary General of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) Carola Fischbach-Pyttel agreed with the previous speakers. The EPSU would be in favour of rejecting both Directive proposals as they did not appear to result in any added value.
The Green MEP Heide Rühle alarmed the audience by saying that the Troika had suggested to Greece to privatise her water. However, the Commission dismissed such protests as privatisation would help to reduce debts and subsidies. Rühle is afraid that the Directive proposals might result in more legal uncertainty. The legal acts would make public cooperation more difficult and one had to anticipate inefficiencies. Not only EU Member States were concerned about the proposals; the non-EU state Norway was also worried, as all Directives were implemented into Norwegian Law on a 1:1 basis, as she had recently learned.
The discussion with the audience showed that the public was to large extent in support of the position of the labour representations. Unfortunately, neither representatives of the European Peoples’ Party nor of the Liberals had been present. The competent committees will vote on the amendment proposals for service concessions and public procurement as early as December. The first reading, followed by a vote in the plenum shall take place at the beginning of February 2013.
Rolf Gehring of the European Federation of Building and Wood workers warned that there was a great danger for employees that tariff standards would be undermined. Companies that honoured collective agreements would lose out whilst competitors without affiliation to collective agreements would pay their employees considerably less. This kind of “dirty competition” would lead to competition being distorted. Hence, in respect of public contracts, tariff standards and the entire tariff grid should be made mandatory; a voluntary basis would not have the desired outcome. In addition, Gehring demanded sanctions in case of infringements against labour and social law. Time and again, contractors and their subcontractors would violate regulations. The consequence of such violations had to be an exclusion of public procurement procedures.
According to Andreas Kahlert, works council of Wasserwerke Westfalen said that concessions would play a very important role in German water management: the sector of water supply and waste disposal had over 1,600 concessions, the majority of which was soon to expire. However, this sector should remain in the hand of the municipalities; apart from that, anything else would be in contrast to the Treaty of Amsterdam. The consideration of collective agreements in both Directive proposals was indispensable. In this context, Kahlert praised the amendment proposals introduced by the Austrian MEPs Evelyn Regner and Josef Weidenholzer as well as by the German MEP Jutta Steinruck (all Social Democrats).
The Secretary General of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) Carola Fischbach-Pyttel agreed with the previous speakers. The EPSU would be in favour of rejecting both Directive proposals as they did not appear to result in any added value.
The Green MEP Heide Rühle alarmed the audience by saying that the Troika had suggested to Greece to privatise her water. However, the Commission dismissed such protests as privatisation would help to reduce debts and subsidies. Rühle is afraid that the Directive proposals might result in more legal uncertainty. The legal acts would make public cooperation more difficult and one had to anticipate inefficiencies. Not only EU Member States were concerned about the proposals; the non-EU state Norway was also worried, as all Directives were implemented into Norwegian Law on a 1:1 basis, as she had recently learned.
The discussion with the audience showed that the public was to large extent in support of the position of the labour representations. Unfortunately, neither representatives of the European Peoples’ Party nor of the Liberals had been present. The competent committees will vote on the amendment proposals for service concessions and public procurement as early as December. The first reading, followed by a vote in the plenum shall take place at the beginning of February 2013.