(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
EU Parliamentary Market Directive has decided that it is the rules of the companies' country of origin that apply to international trade in services. During 2006, the directive will be finalized by the European Parliament. Then it is the EU's Council of Ministers that has the final say.
LO in Stavanger and its surroundings is of the clear opinion that if the directive is adopted, it will undermine workers' wages and working conditions both in Western Europe and Norway. The reason is that a service provider can freely sell his services in another country based on the rules in his own country. Furthermore, it is the authorities of the provider's country that must monitor compliance with the laws of the applicable country. If, for example, a Polish-registered company wins a tender in Finnøy municipality, it is the Polish Labor Inspectorate that is to ensure that Norwegian working time rules and safety regulations are followed. In practice, we mean that it means free rather than lousy work environment and social dumping, which in turn will cause the entire Norwegian welfare society to crack.
We want to clarify that we do not mind workers from other countries, but we demand that Norwegian pay and working conditions apply in Norway, regardless of the nationality of the employees.
LO in Stavanger and its environs have high expectations that the new government will take proper steps to combat social dumping. We therefore expect that the LO will centrally place pressure on the government in this matter, so that the government vetoes the introduction of the EU Services Directive in Norway.
At the same time, we want to encourage LO to require the government to implement ILO Convention 94 for all companies where the state is the majority owner. This means that subcontractors, regardless of nationality, must pay their employees in line with Norwegian tariffs as long as they operate in Norway. In our opinion, this is fully in line with the Soria Moria Declaration.
Stop this hazardous journey now!
Rolf Bersås is the manager of LO in Stavanger and its surroundings.
