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UNI Global Union said recent protests in the UK highlight the importance of respecting local labour standards in European countries to ensure that workers are treated equally, paid the same rate and enjoy the same working conditions, whatever their nationality.



UNI says that regardless of where workers come from, they should be covered by any collective agreements negotiated by national unions for their industry. This should cover all working conditions—not just the minimum wage.



“All workers, whatever their nationality, must be covered by the collective bargaining agreement and their pay and working conditions should be the same as the person working next to them,” said UNI Europa Regional Secretary Bernadette Segol. “If there are not basic protections in place for workers then companies will pick whatever labour is cheapest and wages and benefits will decline throughout Europe in a race to the bottom that all workers will lose.”



British workers protested in recent days because they believed they were discriminated against in the hiring process for the expansion of a UK oil refinery, which is owned by French multinational Total. Total subcontracted the job to an Italian company that decided to only use Italian and Portuguese workers. In response there was a wave of unofficial strike action at construction sites across the UK before workers and the companies involved struck a deal.



“There are over 200 million global migrant workers in the world today and their numbers will double over the next decade,” said UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings. “Too many of them fall prey to rotten practices.”



UNI Europa is supporting the call from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), which said there must be clearer and stronger traffic rules in the European Union to guarantee equal treatment of workers regardless of nationality.



“While we support strongly the free movement of labour, we need clearer and stronger traffic rules in the European Union which guarantee equal treatment of workers regardless of nationality, and that collective agreements are fully respected by employers,” said ETUC General Secretary John Monks. Some employers are undercutting such collective agreements and workers’ anger should be directed at them and not at the migrant workers.”



The ETUC and UNI Europa are calling for a revised Posting of Workers Directive and a social progress protocol attached to the European Treaties to counter recent adverse decisions of the European Court of Justice which it says permit employers to ignore established agreements and, in effect, give them a license to undercut wages and conditions.



“The EU has to exercise its authority to roll back recent European Court decisions that have put a dent in the ability of unions to do their job to build a social Europe,” Segol said.