Transport is one of the most affected sectors by social dumping practices. This is why the Socialists and Democrats in the parliamentary transport committee today backed very specific measures to tackle social dumping.
S&D MEP Jens Nilsson drafted the text and got support for his main proposals to strengthen social protection for workers, and combat illegal and unfair practices such as letterbox companies and atypical work.
Proposals from the S&Ds to impose penalties for serious breaches of EU social protection and for the creation of a blacklist of companies responsible were narrowly defeated.
S&D rapporteur Jens Nilsson MEP said:
"We will not accept any trade-off of social conditions or safety for the sake of profit. I regret that I did not get enough support to include penalties for those companies breaching the rules and on the creation of a black list.
"However, even if I did not succeed in getting all my proposals adopted, I am pleased that the overall opinion included a strong message to the Commission to ensure social protection of employees and to combat illegal activities and unfair business practices."
S&D spokesperson on transport, Ismail Ertug, MEP said:
"What we want is to establish fair working conditions for all workers in the transport sector and effective mechanisms to enforce labour rights throughout the European Union.
"The outcome of today's votes has shown that the S&D Group is capable of successfully defending its core social-democratic priorities against the conservative majority in the European Parliament. This is not an East-West or North-South issue; this is an EU-wide concern from which all workers should benefit."
The transport committee's opinion will now be analysed by the employment committee in the European Parliament, where S&D MEP Guillaume Balas will draft the final report on Social Dumping in the European Union.
