28 Amendments of Maria ARENA related to 2015/2255(INI)
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas Article 9 TFEU lays down the promotion of a high employment rate, the guarantee of adequate social protection, combating social exclusion and a high level of education, training and human health protection as fundamental principles of the Union;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas the concept of social dumping, without benefiting from a legally recognised and shared definition, covers a wide scope of abusive practices and situations enabling the development of unfair competition through tree main dimensions: - the economic aspect: the use by certain economic actors of illegal practices such as undeclared work or abusive practices such as bogus self employment can lead to major market distortions which are detrimental to bona fide companies, notably SMEs; agriculture, building, construction and food sectors, transport, care and domestic services are the main sectors concerned; - the social aspect: unfair competition can lead to a situation of inequality of treatment between European workers and deprive them from the effective exercise of their social and labour rights; - the financial aspect : the reduction of social contributions and taxes represent a threat for the financial sustainability of social security systems of Member States;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas the Court of Justice of the European Union has highlighted, in its judgment in Case C-396/13, that Directive 96/71/EC tends, on the one hand, to ensure fair competition between domestic businesses and businesses which provide transnational services, and, on the other, to ensure that a nucleus of mandatory rules laying down minimum protection in the host Member State apply to posted workers;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas the CJEU has highlighted, in its judgment in Case C-396/13, that the host Member State is competent to determine the level of the minimum wage and the method of calculating and to assess the criteria employed for that purpose;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal for a directive based on ILO Convention No. 81 on labour inspection, which has been ratified by all Member States of the Union, with a view to enforcing the rules on working conditions and the protection of workers in their daily work, such as the provisions on working hours, wages, safety, hygiene and well-being; draws attention to the important role the social partners must play, in accordance with national laws and practices, in ensuring that existing rules are complied with;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Emphasises the importance of stepping up checks on the working conditions of workers in labour-intensive sectors;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on Member States to increase the staffing levels and resources of their social and labour inspectorates and their liaison offices, in particular for interpretation and translation; in addition, calls on Member States to draw up Union-wide in-service training programmes for inspectors who deal with issues such as bogus self- employment and the posting of workers, to identify the new techniques used to circumvent the rules and to organise cross-border checks; recommends, further, that local social and labour inspection services carry out ad hoc joint cross-border checks, in particular in areas close to borders;
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for the creation of a European body of cross-border social and labour inspectors to carry out on-the-spot checks in suspected cases of social dumping, including by identifying 'letterbox companies', which body would work, for the sake of efficiency, in coordination with the platform for combating undeclared work in order to limit the financial burden involved; regards effective cooperation between national authorities and the social partners as a vital part of the effort to end social dumping and ensure that competition in the single market is fair;
Amendment 252 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Takes the view that the competenConsiders that authorities should be able to suspendinterrupt the provision of services in cases of seriousshould a serious and recurrent breaches of the legislation on postings; considers that the amount of the fines should exceed employees' contributionsrelating to worker posting be determined or presumed, or such a breach of social and employment provision in the wider sense, as applicable on the territory of the Member State where the breach is (or is presumed to be) committed; considers, further, that the interruption of the provision of services must be coupled with a monetary penalty in an amount much higher than the cost of social charges paid, or to be paid, for the provision of the services in connection with which the breach occurred;
Amendment 270 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Requests that information on postings should not be retroactive andmust be supplied to the host Member State a reasonable time in advance of the performance of any services on the territory of said Member State; considers, further, that this information should be enteredkept in a European electronic register; stresses that the competent authorities of the host Member State should be able to revise form A1 in the event of serious doubts about whether a posting is genuine, and regularly updated throughout the duration of the posting; finally, emphasises that in the event of serious doubt as to the validity of the posting, the competent authorities of the host Member State should be able to re-classify the status of the posted worker (and thus disregard form A1);
Amendment 289 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Recalls its appeal for the creation of '‘a forgery-proof European social security card (...) on which could be stored all the data needed to verify the bearer’s employment relationship'1’1, for example concerning social security and working hours, in strict compliance with data protection rules, in particular where sensitive personal data are processed; wishes all the information associated with the worker'’s postings to feature on this card; e card, also in order to protect his or her rights and guarantee social protection and the provision of working conditions as stipulated, while facilitating checking by the competent authorities; __________________ 11 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDo c.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA- 2014-0012+0+DOC+XML+V0//FR
Amendment 301 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls for a public list to be drawn up and published of enterprises responsible for serious breaches of EU legislation, and of enterprises within which at least one worker has been the subject of a social and/or labour inspection which led to a breach of EU legislation being established; proposes, however, that enterprises which meet certain conditions to be determined should be able to have their name removed from the list;
Amendment 325 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. calls on the Commission to combat theExpresses its concern at the increasing phenomenon of letterbox companies by applying mor, which enable some genterally the principle that each company should have a single corporate headquarters; reprises to minimise or even avoid their responsibilities as regards labour law, social security contributions and tax; calls on the rejection by the Committee on Employment and Social AffairCommission, therefore, to combat the phenomenon of letterbox companies by setting strict conditions, such as a requirement to conduct a minimum volume of activities ofn the proposal for a directive on single-person limited liability companies; territory of a given Member State inorder to be recognised as being established there; also encourages Member States to foster initiatives by the social partners and social and labour institutions designed to step up checks designed to prevent all these abuses of the rules;
Amendment 341 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Recalls the rejection by the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the proposal for a directive on single-person limited liability companies;
Amendment 374 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Considers that the notion of 'minimum wage' contained in Directive 96/71/EC should be revised to ensure equal payremuneration for posted workers and local workers in similar positions; stresses the need to respect the collective agreements of the host country and to ensure, through the revision of Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and (EC) No 987/2009, the payment of gross earnings corresponding to the remuneration paid by the employer before theto the posted worker of gross earnings before tax but subject to deduction of taxes andhe social security contributions payable by employees and withheld by the employer; recalls that specific postings bonuses should be pcalculated in accordance with the rate applied in the territory of the host Member State and which are still withheld at source by the employer, who then pays them into the social security fund of the host Member State; the latter , after checking that the posting is valid, shall transfer said con top of remunerationtributions to the social security fund of the Member State of origin of the posted worker;
Amendment 386 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Is concerned about improper use of outsourcing by principals to evade their legal and financial obligations, with the sole aim of reducing labour costs; stresses the growing number of cases of social security fraud in long and complicated outsourcing chains; asks the Commission to propose a suitable legislative vehicle to address the cross-border dimensions of outsourcing, such as the risks of human rights violations, corruption, serious physical injury or environmental damage, and breaches of ILO conventions; proposes, to that end, a mechanism extending a principal’s joint and several liability in all economic sectors to the whole outsourcing chain, including its own subsidiaries;
Amendment 404 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13 Wishes periods of postings to be limited in Directive 96/71/EC and temporary employment agencies to be excluded from the scope of the directive; considers that the social partners could determine the maximum limit on postings, in accordance with the special characteristics of each economic sector;
Amendment 410 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Recalls the formal prohibition contained in Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on using a posted worker to carry out tasks previously performed by another posted worker;
Amendment 418 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. Recalls the spirit in which Directive 96/71/EC was drafted, namely with the aim of organising the temporary posting of workers from an enterprise with its registered office in one Member State to one of its places of business in the territory of another Member State, but also with the aim of organising the temporary posting of workers from one Member State active in a particular sector to another Member State, with a view to providing a specific service there in the same economic sector; regrets that the legislation on posting has, largely, been hijacked through the operations of employment agencies, raising serious concerns as to the social impact and market distortions associated with their activities throughout Europe; considers it necessary, therefore, to exclude temporary employment agencies from the scope of Directive 96/71/EC;
Amendment 422 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 c (new)
Paragraph 13 c (new)
13c. Asks the Commission to clarify the provisions so that a distinction can be drawn between employees and self- employed workers to combat ‘bogus self- employment’;
Amendment 424 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 d (new)
Paragraph 13 d (new)
13d. Calls on the Member States to review their laws to rule out the use of precarious contracts known as ‘zero-hour contracts’ or, more specifically, in the field of aviation, as ‘pay-to-fly’ contracts with respect to posting; takes the view that precarious working conditions are an additional safety risk;
Amendment 575 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Calls on the Commission rapidly to draw up proposals to combat unfair competition in the digital and, sharing economyand collaborative economy including the field of crowdworking;
Amendment 579 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. notes that digitalization has a crucial impact on European labour markets; highlights that, on the one hand, digitalisation can generate new business models and new jobs, especially for high- skilled but also for low-skilled workers, but on the other hand, it can also lead to precarious forms of employment; regrets, however, that Commission's Digital Single Market Strategy is primarily limited to technical considerations; stresses the need for social considerations to be taken on board in the Digital Single Market Strategy in order to take full advantage of the related employment and growth potential; calls on the Commission to shape the digital single market in a socially just and sustainable way;
Amendment 608 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23a. Underlines the importance of establishing economic, fiscal and social mechanisms in the territory of the Union and/or the euro area, which will improve the living standards of citizens in the territory of the Union by reducing economic and social imbalances; in addition urges the Commission, in the specific recommendations it makes to the Member States in the context of the European semester, to incorporate opinions on social issues to ensure greater worker protection through convergence;
Amendment 629 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Desires that wage floors be established, possibly in the form of a minimum wage; emphasises that this instrument should be set up on the basis of legislacalls for the respect and promotion orf convention, in accordance with national practices, with dullective bargaining as well as the respect for the role of the social partners; believes that these wage floors should representtablishment of wage floors in the form of, where applicable, decent minimum wages, of at least 60% of the averagrespective national wage; calls on the Commission to consult the social partners with a view to introducing, where appropriate, a minimum wage in some bordaverage wage with a view to end the competitive wage race to the bottom, to support aggregate demand and economic recovery areas associated with highly mobile workernd to reduce wage inequalities;
Amendment 645 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. calls on the Commission to consult the social partners with a view to introducing, where appropriate, a minimum wage in some border areas associated with highly mobile workers;
Amendment 663 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Supports the development of European unemployment benefit arrangements as a mechanism for absorbing asymmetric social shocks within the euro area;
Amendment 688 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28a. Considers it essential, in strict compliance with Article 9 TFEU, to include in any European Union trade agreements social and environmental standards for the parties to combat unfair competition and defend the European social model;