SIPTU: EU directive will lead to worker exploitation

SIPTU has slammed the proposed EU Services Directive which it says is part of an unacceptable race to the bottom in the jobs market.

Under the proposed measure, companies from one EU member state could provide services in another without honouring the latter's labour laws.

Instead, they would only be bound by the labour laws of their own country.

SIPTU president Jack O'Connor told a seminar today that the move was a blank cheque for worker exploitation and would undermine progress in employment standards made over the past 30 years or more.