C1: Posted Workers Directive

Composite of motion 1 and amendments

Congress notes with interest the massive programme of work which will need to be undertaken by the UK engineering construction industry if the Government is to meet the commitments contained in its energy policy.

Congress therefore urges the Government to take all necessary steps in order to establish a level playing field for all contractors engaged in the UK engineering construction industry by supporting the introduction of pre-award auditing of contracts ensuring compliance with national agreements. To this end, contractors who discriminate actively against workers who expect to be paid in accordance with the national agreement in favour of workers the contractor can exploit must be excluded from the procurement process. Also contractors who class workers as self-employed in order to avoid paying national insurance contributions, pensions and other benefits, thereby denying workers employment rights, should also be excluded from the procurement process.

To ensure compliance with EU regulations when applying nationally agreed terms and conditions, the Government needs to amend its interpretation of the Posted Workers Directive and to take advantage of the provisions in the Directive which allow national governments to introduce measures to extend coverage to include sectoral or national collective agreements in companies operating in any sector.

Congress therefore calls on the General Council to investigate ways of:

i)        reforming UK employment law and practice so the directive will not undermine existing workforce agreements and protections

ii)      developing procurement practices that promote labour, equality and environmental standards.

Congress further calls upon the General Council, as part of its wider campaign to redress the imbalance between the social and business needs of the EU, to:

a)      support lobbies of the UK Government to amend the terms of the Posted Workers Directive, as it is applied in the UK

b)      support ILO action to address the undermining effect of recent ECJ judgments on collective agreements and trade union freedoms enshrined in ILO conventions 87 and 98

c)      seek urgent revision of the EU Posted Workers Directive

in order to maximise protection of collective agreements generally applied in UK industries.

Congress reaffirms its opposition to ECJ rulings such as the Viking case, which also allow for attacks on collective agreements, and it reiterates that the Lisbon Treaty would exacerbate attacks on trade unions by handing greater powers to the ECJ to interpret disputes concerning the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Mover:  Unite
Seconder:  GMB

Supporters:  UNISON, Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians, National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers