Worker exploitation sparks EU reform
Conditions at the site where a third of the 3,400 workers were employed by temporary worker agencies from several countries, including Ireland, were described as “an example of modern slavery”, by French Socialist MEP Pervenche Berès after visiting the site.
Those employed by Irish based Atlanco were paid through a sister company in Cyprus and given an Irish employment contract, which would mean their social security payments would be paid to Ireland.
They were paid half of what French workers on the same site doing similar work were paid, and had 30% deducted from their pay for social security and tax.
However, this was not paid by the company to the State, leaving the workers without any social security cover or unemployment benefits. All 70 have returned to Poland after Atlanco lost the contract.
The French Nuclear Safety Authority and labour inspectors investigated the site and the workers conditions and found several irregularities, including that many accidents at work were not being reported and workers were under pressure to keep them hidden. Two workers died on site last year.
The workers could not appeal to the overall contractor, Bouygues, to have their rights recognised and their money returned. This is one issue that the revised legislation seeks to change.
Under the proposed changes, workers would be covered by the law of the country in which they were working. Currently they can be given an employment contract from the country their employer chooses to be based in, often nothing more than a “letter-box” company. They would be covered by their host country’s labour laws and pay the national social security contributions and be entitled to that country’s services.
Employment commissioner László Andor said that temporarily posting workers should be a win-win for EU labour markets and businesses, but cannot be a way to sidestep minimum social standards.
However the legislation was described as problematic‘ by the employers body, BusinessEurope.
