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EUROPEAN REVIEW

ISSUE 34 - Page 2

Services directive passes Parliament test but in watered down version
THE CONTROVERSIAL SERVICES directive has been adopted by the European Parliament but trade unions seem content that the large number of changes made to the original proposal will ensure that the worst of its side effects will not occur.
Originally put forward by ex-Commissioner Frits Bolkestein in 2004, the draft Directive on Services in the Internal Market would have allowed companies offering a wide range of services to set up in another EU Member State while being regulated according to the standards of their home base. Unions raised concerns that this would lead to firms basing themselves in the countries with the lowest wages and standards, expanding to higher-cost countries and undercutting the local competition, a process known as ‘social dumping’.
 
Service Dir demo
50,000 trade unionists march through Strasbourg to protest at the un-amended directive

After two hours of voting on more than 400 amendments the German socialist rapporteur on the bill Evelyne Gebhardt said ‘We have turned this directive upside down’. MEPs may have been influenced by the strength of feeling against the measure among the 50,000 trade unionists who demonstrated outside the Parliament, As John Monks, General Secretary of the ETUC said: ‘the strong presence of demonstrators here today is a clear signal to European and national decision makers that trade unions are a political force to be reckoned with’.
Under the approved version, the contentious ‘country of origin’ principle is scrapped. The scope of the bill has also been reduced by excluding social, health care, security and transport services, as well as temporary work agencies. However water and gas companies are still included as are commercial providers of education and culture. Perhaps for this reason right wing parties also claimed victory as ‘Three quarters of the amendments that reshaped the proposal came from our side’ according to one British Conservative MEP.
Commending the bill to the Council of Ministers, internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy stated ‘I believe that today's vote demonstrates that there is a willingness in Europe to pursue measures to deliver more jobs and growth’. Fears that Member States such as the UK and the Netherlands would tamper with the compromise were allayed after their Spring meeting where they promised to respect it. This was reflected in the European Commission’s revised draft which contained no ‘major political obstacles’ according to reports.


MEPs want UEFA to curb racism before World Cup
MEMBERS OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT HAVE PASSED a resolution calling on governing bodies, leagues, clubs, players and supporters to do more to fight racism in football, ahead of this summer’s World Cup. British Labour member of the Party of European Socialists Claude Moraes was instrumental in getting 420 MEPs to sign up to the declaration which calls for new powers for referees and stronger measures against club and national associations when they do not take action against racist fans and players. Mr. Moraes also feels that, as well as terminating media coverage of a match where a racist incident takes place, agreements could be made ‘to use imaginative devices such as switching off the sound, switching to black and white coverage, or interrupting matches with written messages on the screen explaining why coverage has been altered or stopped’.
Racism has continued to dog European football in recent years with chanting at both international and club level matches in Spain, the involvement of neo-Nazi groups in Poland and the closure of grounds in Italy after racist placards were displayed. Support for the resolution came quickly with international governing body FIFA bringing in a new disciplinary code whose penalties include points deductions and relegation for offending clubs. Manchester United and England star Rio Ferdinand also joined the debate: ‘If UEFA really are serious about kicking racism into touch, they should adopt some of the penalties called for in the resolution and get on with punishing those who defame the game we all love with their backward, racist views’.


Bargaining round-up

TRADE UNIONS IN ITALY ARE battling to save the national airline, Alitalia. The loss-making carrier has gone through several ‘restructuring’ and ‘organising’ processes over the last few years and unions fear that the latest attempt, which involves splitting off ground staff into a separate company, will lead to job losses greater than the 3,700 already agreed. After two weeks of protests at airports, which severely curtailed flights, the Italian government stepped in to try to broker a deal though their room for manoeuvre is limited by EU rules which forbid state aid for national airlines. Savino Pezzotta, general secretary of the CISL trade union federation reiterated that ‘the crisis must be handled without allowing the company to fail’.

IN IRELAND SUCCESSIVE National Partnership agreements have tried to manage the country’s booming economy of recent years although unions have not always felt that workers have received a big enough slice of the cake. Now talks are being held which may set a framework for the next ten years they are looking for stronger laws on redundancy, employment agencies and definition of ‘a worker’ as well as improved pay and conditions. Employers are set to resist increased regulation and demand the abolition of the Joint Labour Committee system which set minimum pay and conditions in certain sectors.

SPANISH UNIONS UGT AND CCOO in contrast with their Italian colleagues, have reached agreement with the national airline. The ground staff at Iberia, 75% of the employees, will receive a one-off payment plus participation in a profit-sharing scheme. Temporary, part-time and casual contracts, a big issue in Spain, will be converted into long-duration, full time and open-ended posts respectively to help ensure stable employment.

GERMAN PORCELAIN MANUFACTURER Villeroy and Boch are to make redundancies for the second time in their factories in Luxembourg which will more than halve the workforce. They cite low-wage, Chinese competition and counterfeits. Trade Union federation OGB-L is calling for training and support for the redundant workers but blames the long hours worked in the country.



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