For over a year, the European Parliament has been debating the Commission proposal on applying the special regulations in road transport on the Posting of Workers Directive (‘Lex specialis’), the Regulation on driving times and rest periods for professional drivers as well as cabotage. However, after the vote in plenary on 4th July it is back to square one as all three reports were rejected by the majority in parliament!

In his inaugural speech before the European Parliament on 3rd July 2018, Federal Chancellor Kurz presented the programme for the Austrian Council Presidency. Under the motto “A Europe that protects”, the programme unites three focuses: Migration, Digitisation and Neighbourhood Policy in the Western Balkans. However, from the point of view of the Chamber of Labour, the protection of social standards with regard to European workers and employees is missing.

Steps towards a successful Austrian EU Council Presidencyin 2018 from worker‘s point of view

Status quo and potential for change

On 21.12.2017, the Commission had presented its proposal for a Directive on transparent und predictable working conditions. This week (19.6.2018), MEPs of the responsible Employment Committee debated the now available EP draft report on the Directive. Even though it was possible to recognise the general approval of the proposal by all factions, opinions significantly differed in particular with regard to the question, who should be the future beneficiary of the extended rights of the Directive (“notion of the employee”).

The Company Law package, which shall harmonise and digitize the cross-border conversion, fusion and division of a large variety of national forms of company, is currently undergoing its first reading in the European Parliament. A public hearing (21.6.) of European social partners and experts in the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) should provide MEPs with ideas for improving the legislative proposals.

The creation of a European Labour Authority has been an important demand of both Chamber of Labour and trade unions for a long time. In Brussels, representatives of AK Lower Austria and a high-ranking panel debated the planned authority and explained its relevance in respect to the fight against wage and social dumping by the example of Lower Austria. In view of the forthcoming Council Presidency, the Commission representative called on the Austrian Federal Government, to proactively pursue the legislative proposal on the Labour Authority at Council level.

From an employee’s point of view, the vote by the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) on 4th June 2018 as regards to the laying down specific rules Directive for posting drivers in the road transport sector (Lex Specialis) and the regulation on driving times and rest periods for professional drivers produced catastrophic results. Instead of sending a strong signal against social dumping on Europe’s roads, the majority of MEPs voted in favour of greater competition at the expense of employees in road transport.

The EU Labour Authority is currently one of Brussels’ hot subject. Last week (6th June 2018) a on-topic workshop was held in the EU Parliament, which chaired two S&D MEPs - Agnes Jongerius (Netherlands) and the shadow rapporteur for the EU Labour Authority, Georgi Pirinski (Bulgaria). An expert of the Chamber of Labour was able to contribute to the discussion.

 On 13 March 2018, the European Commission presented its proposal for a European Labour Authority, an initiative that has been requested by trade unions for a long time.

Against the background of the sharp increase in cross-border employment, the Commission's draft is expressly welcomed by AK, ÖGB and DGB. Many workers and companies, especially in border regions, are severely affected by unfair competition in the context of posting of workers and serious shortcomings of cross-border enforcement of penalties for wage and social dumping.