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WE REPORTED IN OUR LAST ISSUE on the frantic efforts being made by both sides in the chemicals directive debate to pull the proposed new law, REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of CHemicals), in their direction. Now both the European Parliament and the the Council of Ministers have agreed their positions it is possible to glimpse the outlines of the likely final legislation. Employers, trade unions and environmental groups all seem to have got some of what they wanted. Designed to register, test and control the 100,000 chemicals which have been used in Europe since before tougher laws were passed in 1981, REACH has been the subject of about 1,000 amendments during the legislative process. In November the parliament voted 438 -144 to accept a set of measures including a targeted approach for chemicals produced in quantities of between 1 and 10 tonnes annually which would see only the less expensive ones go through the full REACH process. Also introduced was the 'One substance one registration' (OSOR) principle to avoid companies duplicating adminstration while the rôle of the new European Chemicals Agency in testing and giving permission for the use of 'substances of very high concern' was strengthened with the aim of encouraging the industry to use less harmful ones.
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In an extraordinary Council of Ministers meeting in December some more changes were made, probably the most radical being the dropping of the duty of firms to disclose REACH information to consumers. However Greenpeace hailed the retention of the substitution principle which they had first asked for in 1999 while small business groups approved the duty of large companies to disclose information to them under OSOR. Accusations of over-zealous lobbying by industry was refuted by Commissioner Gunther Verheugen 'As far as I know, there was no contact with major companies. At least, I had none' but Swedish Liberal MEP Lena Ek replied 'He would be the only one the industry lobbyists missed in that case'. |
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Under the co-decision procedure the European Parliament will have another look at the proposals in the summer but they could be on the statute books by next year and phased in between 2008 and 2018. It is estimated that approximately 30,000 chemicals will be registered with about 12,000 being tested.
CONTINUING THE BRITISH TRADE UNIONS' involvement with migrant workers in the UK, particularly since the accession of the new Member states in 2004, many abuses by employers have been uncovered as well as lax implementation of regulations by the authoriites. By far the biggest national group to come to work in Britain has been the Poles. Official figures show that there were 173,000 applicants from Poland since accession in April 2004 and while many have no doubt had a satisfactory working experience, there is growing evidence of poor treatment. The Transport and General Workers Union says thousands of Polish workers have joined TGWU as a result of poor employment practices, many by British and Polish-run recruitment agencies. Workers have faced sexual harassment, unfair deductions from their wages, sub-standard accommodation and charges for personal protective equipment which should be provided as part of the job. In one case, 10 Polish workers were paying £50 each a week for a seat on a minibus to take them to a food plant, even if they had no work that day. There are also reports of a succession of short term contracts being offered by the same employer so that migrant workers are not paid at slack periods such as Christmas.
To highlight these problems Tony Woodley, TGWU general secretary, wrote to the new Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz during his visit to London in November stating 'Those that seek to profit from workers' misery are quick to join forces across nations and continents to meet their objectives. Today, I am calling on you and the UK government to lead the way and do the same - join forces, work together and combat these criminals'. Meanwhile Amicus and the TUC have got together to try to reach Polish workers in the North-West. A national organiser from Solidarnosc, the famous Polish union, has been seconded to the TUC regional office. Tomasz Laskowski from Gdansk will spend three months reaching out to the local Polish community giving migrant workers advice and information about the Home Office registration scheme, UK employment law and their rights at work, and details on how they can sign up to a union.
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Lena Ek MEP and Industry
Commissioner Verheugen - on opposite sides of the
fence
