On 2 June 2021, the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) and the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) held a webinar on the growing trend of exploitative labour practices in the EU. Panelists reported that forced and bonded labour (a specific form of forced labor in which compulsion into servitude is derived from debt) was similar to the practices seen in parts of the Gulf region, discussing ways on how to ensure equal treatment of all workers in the EU's construction, wood and forestry sectors.

In central and eastern Europe, third-country labour has emerged as a replacement for domestic workers who have moved themselves to countries where the pay is highest, typically in western Europe and Nordic countries. Although data are not systematically collected, available estimates indicate that third-country nationals account for approximately 10.5% of total posted workers in the EU. Labour unions and civil society groups have warned that this growing phenomenon is fuelling a dangerous rise in exploitative labour practices that requires urgent action. In particular, the ‘intermediary system’ in which a company recruits workers and then posts them to another EU country is leading to social dumping and social fraud, thereby hindering workers’ social protection.

On the day after the webinar, unions secured a significant victory in a case involving Team Power Europe, a temporary employment agency based in Bulgaria and posting workers to Germany. In its ruling, the European Court of Justice confirmed that ‘the performance of the activities of selecting and recruiting temporary agency workers in the member state in which the temporary-work agency is established is insufficient for it to be considered that that undertaking [performs] ‘substantial activities’ there.’ This means that the Bulgarian social security legislation was not applicable to the workers in question – a legislation known to be more lucrative to posting companies. Tom Deleu, general secretary of the EFBWW, described the ruling as ‘an important victory for the workers, for the trade union movement and for the European values’. ‘If the court had ruled in favour of the advocate general’s opinion, it would give an important incentive to fraud and to set up letterbox companies, acting as temporary work agencies and posting cheap labour to other member states’, he added.

Construction industry trade unions are campaigning for an EU ban on intermediaries. In response, the European Commission has promised to undertake a study focusing on the posting of workers, as well as the role of intermediaries and agencies.

Back in 2019, a report from the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency already highlighted cases of severe labour exploitation of migrant workers in construction and forestry sectors. The report reveals that over half of the workers found their jobs by word of mouth and ended up in ‘concentration camp conditions’ where ‘they keep us like dogs, like slaves’. These included cases of workers being paid as little as €5 a day, working up to 92 hours a week, monitored 24/7 on CCTV by bosses and being forced to sleep in shipping containers with no water or electricity. Some of the EU’s exploited migrant workers are forced to pay debts to traffickers, to move drugs and are subjected to beatings, verbal abuse and threats of further violence. Sonila Danaj, researcher at the European Centre for Social Welfare, urged EU policymakers to focus on labour standards enforcement and advance the convergence of labour standards across the bloc.

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photo: pixeldigits