The Services Directive came into effect on Monday 28 December, encouraging the free market of services across all European countries.
This directive is still being criticized and challenged at EU Level by the United Left group, the Greens, the French Socialists and the European Trade Union Confederation, due to the fact that the same directive does not give any importance to workers’ rights and the right to collective bargaining.
It’s a disgrace for us, considering how the Maltese political class offered no resistance within the European Parliament so that workers’ rights and the right for collective bargaining are safeguarded in the services directive. Indeed the two major political groups in the European parliament, the Socialist parties and the European People’s Party jointly voted for a majority vote in favour of the directive.
It is also regrettable that the Nationalist Government lauded the directive, when considering that the directive will lead to the social dumping of workers from one country to another: social inequality between different categories of workers, unfair competition, inferior conditions of work and decommissioning of collective bargaining.
The Services Directive was designed to give companies all the rights to provide a service in another country without hindrance and the obligation to hold a permanent representation in the country in which they are doing business. The result of such policy is that trade unions will lose the right for collective bargaining because they don’t have with whom to negotiate. In the recent Vaxholm case we saw that Sweden was forced to weaken its workers’ rights and standards.
Zminijijietna - Voice of the Left believes that in order to protect workers’ rights and not succumb to “social dumping” the European Commission must insert clear legal protocol in all treaties where workers and social rights are given primacy over freedom of the market.
This cannot be implemented if our representatives in the European Parliament and the Maltese Government remain passive in the face of a Social Europe that protects workers’ rights.
We urge our Maltese representatives in the European Parliament to act critically and persistently towards this directive in emphasizing the importance of worker’s rights.
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