Trade union remedies against exploitation
ed* No. 01/2025 – Chapter 6
Those affected can find support from advisory services such as Fair Mobility, an advisory network provided by the German Trade Union Confederation, which was launched as a project by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in 2011. Help is also available from the European Migrant Workers Union or the PECO Institute. Most of the advisory work deals with wage fraud as well as the lack of social security. Trade unions such as the German IG Bau also support those affected in collecting their wages under general contractor liability when subcontractors are arrested as a result of investigations by public prosecutors and customs authorities.
The trade unions’ demands are: strong collective agreements, more and better monitoring, binding checks at the time of contract awarding, better equipment for the Financial Control of Undeclared Work Unit, creation of a uniform labour inspectorate in the medium term, a right to sue for trade unions under labour law and a binding limit on subcontractor chains. Cooperation between the supervisory authorities in the member states involved should be improved at European level, and the ELA should be strengthened. Pre-notification of the A1 certificate should become mandatory, with a few exceptions, in order to make on-site inspections more effective.1 Furthermore, the trade unions recommend using digital tools to combat social security fraud.
Fair mobility remains an empty promise for too many workers as long as there are no effective controls or real-time cross-border information exchanges. Those who support a European labour market must also support a better coordination of social security systems and the transferability of entitlements.
Gabriele Bischoff (S&D) is the rapporteur of the dossier about revising the regulation on the coordination of social security systems, and she is also in favour of mandatory prior notification of the A1 certificate. Critics are opposed to this as it would result in excessive bureaucracy. Many hope that digitisation of the A1 procedure will defuse the conflict and finally bring about an agreement in the faltering negotiations about reforming EU coordination rules. With the involvement of German social insurance funds, work is currently underway on two projects related to the European Social Security Pass (ESSPASS) to fully digitalise the A1 procedure.
Digital monitoring – there are good examples in Europe
Some digital monitoring tools already exist today. For example, in the construction sector. Sweden, like Finland, relies on digital access to construction sites, which also enables verification of qualifications as well as the validity of the A1 certificate and the EU residence permit for non-Swedish workers. In Austria, the focus is on checking the employment status of workers. Through the so-called Bau ID, all the data required for inspections by the control authorities are updated and can be retrieved daily. Belgium, Lithuania and Romania also use social ID cards.2
European Labour Authority (ELA)
The ELA is to help member states apply EU labour mobility rules – free movement, posting and coordination of social security systems – in a fair, simple and effective way. It started organising checks and inspections in 2021 to combat undeclared work, initially in the road haulage sector and then in the construction sector. The European Parliament wants it to do this on its own initiative in the future.3 Furthermore, the European Parliament demands an extension of its mandate to include employees from third countries. It is currently not authorised to take action for this group of people.