Compared to many other European nations, the Nordic countries enjoy
low unemployment and certain trades need more people. Labour from
outside has contributed to positive growth, but also to increased
pressure on wages and working conditions. Now the fight against social
dumping intensifies to make sure the influx of labour does not
undermine Nordic labour market rules – although the individual
countries have chosen different strategies and use different
terms.
Norway sees the universal applicability of collective agreements as
an important tool to secure workers’ rights and stop social dumping.
Recently, in a groundbreaking judgement, the country’s Supreme Court
ruled against employers and said Norway’s practice is not in breach of
EEA law.
Denmark’s Social Democratic government has made fighting social
dumping a central issue and is introducing a range of new measures to
stop foreign workers being paid less and offered worse working
conditions than their Danish colleagues. The new rules are helping,
even though they cannot completely get rid of the problem, claims Søren
Kaj Andersen, a researcher in the field.
The Swedish government is being blamed for giving employers the
power to decide the need for and therefore control over foreign labour.
Some say a Swedish work permit is the easiest way of getting into
Schengen. The hotel and restaurant workers‘ trade union warns against a
slide towards slave-like conditions with low wages and long working
hours which ruin workers‘ conditions, the collective agreement and the
general conditions in the trade. It wants rules which can stop
bad employers.
Cross-border mobility can be a positive thing – Estonians in Finland
are a good example of that. They have helped Finland’s construction
industry to flourish. But at what cost to their home country? A Nordic
study aims to find out whether countries are being bled dry of
labour.
Nordic labour market models with tri-partite cooperation should in
themselves work as buffers against social dumping. Yet it is not that
simple. Extra measures are needed to fight the exploitation of
individuals and bad working conditions.
