EU: Unions lose landmark battle over equal pay

Unions fighting the threat of cheap labour from migrant workers from new EU member states lost a landmark legal battle over equal pay today.

The European Court of Justice said that Swedish pickets who blocked a building site in a protest over lower-paid Latvians doing the same job were in breach of EU rules.

The case was about the right to “import” Latvian pay and conditions into a higher-wage EU member state, and has implications for migrant workers crossing borders in any of the 27 EU countries.

The judges said the right to take collective action in trade union cross-border disputes was justified to uphold minimum standards of protection under an EU Directive on Posted Workers.

However, the Swedish industrial action – which forced a Latvian firm out of business - went too far.

Swedish unions downed tools when workers discovered that a Latvian firm had won a contract to build a school in Sweden – and was paying wages below the Swedish minimum.

Today’s judgment said at stake was whether action in which a trade union attempted to force a foreign service provider to enter into negotiations on pay and to sign a collective agreement, was consistent with EU law.

It went on: “Such action in the form of a blockade of sites constitutes a restriction on the freedom to provide services which, in this case, is not justified with regard to the public interest of protecting workers.”