S&D Euro MP Georgi Pirinski today led a cross-party majority in the employment and social affairs committee of the European Parliament on a proposal to tackle undeclared work in the EU. The vote opens the way for negotiations with the Council of Ministers and the European Commission.
According to the new draft law, a platform will be established to enhance efforts to prevent, deter and combat undeclared work, as well as to encourage and promote its transformation into declared employment.
S&D Group and European Parliament negotiator, Georgi Pirinski, stated after the vote:
"It is time for Europe and its member states to step up their joint efforts to tackle undeclared work. In this regard the inclusion of the European social partners as full members of the Platform is a major success, which should significantly strengthen the work of the Platform.
"People in undeclared work often have to accept working conditions that deprive them of basic labour and social rights, such as equal pay for equal work. They are also very often exposed to precarious working conditions, including practices of severe exploitation.
"Undeclared work thus leads to serious distortions in labour markets and unfair competition between companies. And, not least, there are most serious losses to public finances due to unpaid taxes and social security contributions.
"We trust that the platform will provide added value at Union level for successfully tackling the challenges of undeclared work".
S&D Group spokeswoman on social affairs, Jutta Steinruck, added:
"The Platform can only be the first step towards a common European strategy to prevent a further race to the bottom for social rights. We are still calling for effective controls to fight social dumping and the exploitation of workers.
"We are calling on the Commission to propose an electronic social-security card to record workers’ important employment and social security details. This could be a very useful tool to prevent irregularities. The S&D Group will keep fighting to strengthen the EU law in this area".
Note to the editor:
The Platform is expected to include as members, a senior representative of each member state, possessing clear mandates to interact with all relevant authorities and bodies in their respective countries. The Commission is expected to co-chair the Platform, functioning together with a representative selected by the members of the Platform.
It is also envisaged that social partners, both at Union and at sectoral level, will play an active role in the functioning of the Platform. As observers, there are included a broad range of relevant services and bodies with competences regarding the full scope of problems connected to undeclared work.
