ETUC condemns complaint to Court of Justice on Posted Workers

The European Trade Union Confederation has condemned the Hungarian and Polish Governments for filing a complaint to the Court of Justice of the European Union on the revised Posted Workers Directive and vowed to fight it all the way.

ETUC Confederal Secretary Liina Carr said “Two member states are trying to overturn a perfectly legitimate, democratic and properly-taken decision. The revision of the Directive was a political compromise by three EU institutions – involving Ministers, MEPs and Commissioners from all Member States - following all EU rules and procedures. There is no legal case, it is pure political revenge for a decision they don’t like.  

“What is even more despicable is that they want to sell workers from their own countries as cheap labour. Why a Polish or Hungarian worker deserves to be paid less in Germany or France than a local worker is beyond understanding. By the same logic they presumably want employers in Poland and Hungary to undermine the wages of local workers by employing workers from poorer EU countries and paying them even less. It’s absurd and self-defeating – it would create even more poverty, migration and brain-drain from low wage economies. It would be a vicious downward spiral of exploitation and misery.

“We will not stop until this nasty complaint is rejected.”