Civils urged to fight 'social dumping'

Civil engineering employers are being urged to join forces with the unions in a European campaign to fight 'social dumping' - the use of cheap foreign labour to undercut national pay agreements.

At a meeting of the civil engineering conciliation board on Tuesday 17 January, contractors were invited to support the aims of a recent three-day European union conference at Blankenberge, in Belgium.

The conference called for legislation to guarantee minimum rights for all workers on construction sites in the European Union.

TGWU leader George Henderson said: 'We are talking about fair competition and level playing fields. This is a golden opportunity to combat the corrupt black economy. And it makes sense for employer federations. They are already losing members because rogue firms are undercutting national agreements.'

But contractors are strongly opposing a proposed European Directive on the posting of workers abroad which aims to ensure that foreign 'guest workers' are not used to undercut local employment terms. UK firms say the directive would actually work against Britain as displaced continental workers would move onto domestic sites. The working rule agreement - which has no legal basis - would act as no barrier to their import. Progress on the directive has been held up by a failure to agree an implementation threshold. And, with opposition growing among other EU countries, the directive may be foundering.