Strengthening social inclusion of migrant workers in the European Construction and Wood Industries

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1 Strengthening social inclusion of migrant workers in the European Construction and Wood Industries TEMPORARY MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR IN THE EU Country Reports EFBWW European Federation of Building and Woodworkers Project carried out with the financial support of the European Commission

2 This report was drafted by order of the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers. With the financial support of the DG for Employment and Social Affairs of the European Commission. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, whether electronic, mechanical, by means of photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the permission of the publisher. While the information in the publication is believed to be correct, neither the publisher nor the authors accept any responsibility for any loss, damage or other liability by users or any other persons arising from the contents of this publication.

3 Table of contents Country Reports 1.1 Belgium Finland Germany Italy Netherlands Norway Poland Spain Sweden Switzerland 55 Strengthening social inclusion 3

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5 1.1 National Report BELGIUM A. Facts and figures related to temporary migrant workers in Belgium According to the Flemish employer organization for SME s, the Bouwunie, there are more than 75,000 workers of foreign origin active on Belgian construction sites. This seems a fair estimation. Trade unions anyway estimate that 85,000 workers are posted and posted self-employed, and that 5,000-10,000 are workers with work permit A+B. 5,000-10,000 workers with a work permit A+B (based on cross sectorial estimations, no details/sector available) Nationalities Percentage Romanian 46% Bulgarian 18% India 8% US 4% Japan 3% Morocco 3% 85,000 individual (+/- 20,000 FTE) workers/self-employed via posting (based on cross sectoral %, no details/sector available, based on nationality of the employer) Nationalities Percentage The Netherlands 26.5% Poland 17% Germany 11% France 11% Romania 7% Luxemburg 6% Portugal 5% Strengthening social inclusion - BELGIUM 5

6 These figures need some explication. They refer to the nationality of the company/self -employed who posts workers to Belgium. We see that The Netherlands take the lead. According to the trade unions appreciation (and with the experience of inspection services) this is mainly due to the very liberal legislation in the Netherlands regarding the establishment of posting/temporary work agencies. These agencies recruit workers in the EU and post them to Belgium. A similar analysis can be made to explain the prominent position of Luxemburg in this list. Maybe this has more to do with the fiscal legislation on the establishment of companies. There is a lack of reliable data regarding irregular migrants in the construction industry in Belgium. In 2012 there were more than 700 infractions regarding illegal stay/ work permits for Brazilian migrants only, who were estimated to be more than 10,000. Anyway the percentage of workers registered in some way to the authorities is supposedly amounting to 80/90%. As we have already seen, the majority of temporary migrant workers are posted. Still relying on an approximate estimate, over a total of 85,000 posted workers 20,000 are probably self-employed (false or genuine). Most of them are contracted within a chain of subcontracting, both in public and private sectors. There are unfortunately no estimations available regarding their number, neither regarding the length of the chains of subcontracting. In general terms we can conclude however that the phenomenon of subcontracting has increased in the last years. It is a way to reduce wage costs and raise flexibility on construction sites. Since the adoption of the Posting of Workers Directive and the accession to the EU of 10 new member states from Central and Eastern Europe, this has become a driving force in changing construction sites into truly transnational workplaces. Limosa statistics show a continuing growing amount of notifications of postings. Since 2007, these figures have more than doubled! The total for 2011 (all sectors) was 337,189 notifications. The posting of workers in this period ( ) increased by 40%; Posting of self-employed ( ) more than doubled. Almost half of all postings are within the construction sector. The Belgian trade unions have experience of workers posted via bona fide existing companies, but also via a wide range of honest and dishonest practices: middle-men, gang-masters and other mediators. Day-by-day recruitment is considered to be negligible. Temporary migrant workers in Belgium are concentrated in the construction, finishing and demolition sector, and are employed by any kind of employer and to any size of workplace, with an higher presence in very big construction sites. There is a strong process of internationalization of the workplaces, the wide majority of which include workers from different nationalities (in particular Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian and Portuguese) 6 Strengthening social inclusion - BELGIUM

7 B. Working conditions of temporary migrant workers in Belgium and frequent forms of abuse and circumvention According to the trade unions experience labour migrants are only partly informed on the labour law and almost completely unaware of the collective agreements. The most frequent abuses regard the payment of the workers. They are almost never paid according to the Belgian minimum salaries and their wage is negotiated on the basis of the minimum salary in the sending countries. Labour inspectors report a lack of effective instruments to monitor the working time, but there are strong indications that over-time work is widespread between migrant workers, without an adequate financial compensation. In this framework, the problem of under-qualification is not an issue, as usually workers, independent of their training level, earn less than the minimum wage for unskilled workers (12.3 EUR) Approximately 300 complaints are lodged every year by migrant workers in Belgium. The large majority of them are lodged after the end of the contract or of the working period, because the workers fear retaliation from the employers. Most of which are related to workers directly employed by Belgian undertakings and to bogus selfemployed, none to posted workers. C. Role and structure of the trade unions with regards to temporary migrant workers Within ACV-CSC BIE there is not a trade union official dedicated solely to migration issues, but given the importance of the target group and the fact that all the staff is confronted with problems and questions related to this phenomenon, one FTE (fulltime equivalent) can be estimated. At confederation level there is coordination for services to cross-border workers/ members from France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands and from the new member states. Two Polish native officers have been hired to deal with it. There are also specific groups and action departments, including a taskforce which meets 2/3 times per year with the aim of supporting regional actions, promote exchange of good practices, watch trends in migration, exchange on potential big cases, give input in standpoints regarding negotiation of collective labour agreements, relate with regional-national-international partners (EFBWW/BWI). The trade unions get information on the presence of temporary migrant workers by means of the activities of trade union delegates, who ask information about subcontractors from the works council. Unfortunately, very often the employer does not provide the requested information, questioning its duty to do so or shifting the responsibility to other subjects in case of chains of subcontracting. Inspection services are other sources of information for the trade unions. Strengthening social inclusion - BELGIUM 7

8 Moreover, trade unions carry out regular and repeated visits to the workplaces with the aim of identifying and contacting workers. Nevertheless the percentage of temporary migrant workers known to the trade unions is very low, because of the high turn over and the low propensity of the workers to contacting trade unions unless they have very serious problems. Embassies and consulates, temporary work agencies, schools and city integration services are used as networks to get in contact with temporary migrant workers. Also informal networks are used in this respect: churches, shops and bars frequented by the migrants after work or on Sunday are often visited by trade union officers to talk with the migrants and distribute leaflets and brochures. Basic brochures on working conditions in the construction sector are distributed in the most common languages of migrant workers. As mentioned earlier, several collaborators of ACV-CSC speak Polish. To communicate with workers speaking other languages the policy is to work with volunteers from the local national communities or to find a common language (mainly German or French). If there are no other possibilities official translation agencies are used. Also in Belgium, organization and recruitment of temporary migrant workers are linked with the needs of the workers and the possibility for the trade unions to help them. The quality of the services provided is very important: help in filling their tax form and/or to regularize social security situation or benefits for children. Migrant workers usually become members of the trade unions when they think they are victims of exploitation. As a general rule they have the feeling that they did not move to Belgium to waste time and create problems complaining about working conditions, and are basically thankful to the employer for giving them the opportunity of earning, for a defined amount of time, much more than they could earn in their country of origin. Very often they do not have a clear idea about what a trade union is, and they tend to mistake them as part of the authorities or of the government. This misinterpretation is often promoted by the employers. Experience shows that individual testimonies with a positive experience with the trade unions are the best means to gain the interest and the trust of the migrant communities. ACV-CSC is collecting good results in this respect, and seems to have become a trade mark especially within the Polish community. ACV-CSC estimates that from 2007 around 5,000 workers from Central and Eastern Europe have become members. Most of them are Polish. As mentioned earlier most of the complaints lodged to the trade unions concern salaries and working time. Holidays, social security and accommodation are also quite frequent fields of abuse. The effectiveness of the trade unions in helping the migrants is basically limited by the fact that often complaints come too late, when dishonest employers have already disappeared and it is difficult to collect evidence to build up a case. As a first step usually the unions contact the employer and try to find a compromise. If it s not possible, they address the court. Non-payment of overtime work is particularly difficult to demonstrate with evidence. 8 Strengthening social inclusion - BELGIUM

9 In order to verify the payment of social security, Belgium has well-functioning bilateral agreements with Poland, Portugal and France. Cooperation is good also with the Netherlands, Spain, Luxemburg, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Spain. Most of the problems in this field arise with the UK, Cyprus, Ireland and the southern regions of Italy. The IMI, established at EU level, has revealed to be an extremely effective tool for the Belgian authorities. There is an agreement of mutual assistance between Belgian, German and Dutch construction trade unions with mutual recognition of membership. Regular membership of ACV-CSC is 16 euro/month and includes Information and advice on social security and labour code and collective agreements, free legal assistance (after 6 months of membership), indemnity when on strike, unemployment agency, collective solidarity. Strengthening social inclusion - BELGIUM 9

10 1.2 National Report FINLAND A. Facts and figures relating to temporary migrant workers in the construction industry in Finland Until recently, the majority of migrant workers in Finland were not officially registered and there was a lack of reliable data about the amplitude of the phenomenon. With the new Tax Number Law (September 2012), every worker on a construction site must have an individual tax number. In order to obtain it, the worker has to show his passport/id and the employment contract, or other written documentation explaining terms and conditions of the work that he will do in Finland. In April 2013 there were 44,619 names in the tax number register. The vast majority of these workers are Estonian (around 70%). The rest are of Polish, Russian and other nationalities. Over 50% of the temporary migrant workers are posted, but the number of workers directly employed by companies is increasing. Many of these companies employing foreigners are Estonian. The amount of Self-employed workers is not significant. Chains of subcontracting are widely present, typically on 3-4 levels. There is a high concentration of temporary migrants within the construction of buildings, finishing and especially cleaning sectors. The migrants are often employed by small (less than 50 employees) and very small (less than 10) companies. International workplaces are concentrated in the Southern part of Finland at relatively big building sites. B. Working conditions and frequent abuses and circumventions Commonly migrant workers are not paid as much as they are entitled to according to the collective agreements. Migrants might receive the minimum wage, but frequently work more hours than their Finnish colleagues, often without overtime compensation. The minimum wage taken into account may be the lowest one, intended for unskilled workers, even if the worker is qualified and thereby entitled to a higher salary. Fraud is widespread also with regards to health and safety- and fiscal issues. Approximately 800 complaints regarding 2,400 workers are lodged every year with the Finnish construction trade union Rakennusliitto. The occupational safety and health administration estimates that at least 1,200 complaints, regarding 3,600 workers, are lodged yearly. The majority of these complaints concern underpayment, late payment or total nonpayment of wages to the workers. Such violations concerning wages are most obviously and directly of concern to the workers. On the other hand, confusion about for example social security payments or taxes, if not clarified in due time, commonly cause problems later on to the individuals. 10 Strengthening social inclusion - FINLAND

11 Whether the sanctions provided by Finnish law are effective, is controversial. The Act on the Contractor s Obligations and Liability when Work is Contracted Out obliges enterprises to ensure that their subcontractors discharge their statutory obligations. Before a company concludes a contract, it is obliged to check whether the counterparty is entered in the Prepayment Register and the Employer Register, and is registered as VAT-liable in the Value Added Tax Register. Similarly, the company must ascertain whether the counterparty has paid its taxes and taken out pension insurances, as well as the type of collective agreement or principal terms of employment it applies to the work. The same information must also be obtained on foreign companies. The contractor is, as described above, obligated to check whether the contracting party acts in compliance with legislation before signing a contract. The consequence of failing to do that is a negligence fee between a minimum of 1,600 euros and a maximum of 16,000 euros. For a big construction company this is not a significant penalty. The authorities are working hard on enforcing legislation, but unfortunately the resources of the national inspectorate are not sufficient compared with the quantity of abuses and violations. Only a small part of the violations is thus discovered. C. Role and structure of the trade unions The policies of the Finnish trade unions towards temporary migrant workers have been formed during time by what one could describe as a learning process. Adjustments have been made when and where needed. There is no specific or written advice about how union employees should contact, recruit and organize temporary migrant workers. The only guideline appears to be, that all workers within the sector are to be treated equally. Temporary migrant workers are welcomed to the unions and in principle should be contacted and recruited to the unions by chief shop stewards at the workplaces in the same way as their Finnish colleagues. The lack of a distinct, written policy concerning migrants, is allowing for creative solutions in the unions. Education occasions are flexibly arranged according to actual local demand; to the foreign workers of a certain construction project, at a certain area, in their own language, or with the help of interpreters. Union officers have for example placed information events in the ferries operating between the Finnish and Estonian capitals, in order to reach out to temporary migrants. Rakennusliitto offers a specific branch (n.007) for migrant workers of any nationality. This specific branch has more than 1,900 members. The union recognizes the fine line between running the risk of isolating the migrant construction workers into their own unit, and on the other hand, the benefits of enhanced self-confidence and socialization within this kind of an independent group. The branch has become a rather dynamic and active part of the trade union. The union underlines that each foreign worker can freely choose whether to enroll in this branch for foreign workers or in any other preferred branch. The creation of a strong and sympathetic community of migrant members appears to be a positive instrument to favour their integration with the Finnish fellows. Strengthening social inclusion - FINLAND 11

12 Rakennusliitto has an office in Tallinn, in Estonia, the main country sending migrant workers to Finland. One Russian native officer is employed in the Regional Office in Helsinki and one Estonian native is employed in the office in Tallinn. The officer in Helsinki works with problems regarding violations of agreements concerning the foreign construction workers, whereas the employee in Tallinn mainly takes care of spreading information about Finnish labor market practices and regulations. The wood sector trade union Puuliitto in 2012 has recruited a trade union officer responsible for foreign workforce related issues. One of the main tasks of the officer is to concentrate on migrant and temporary migrant workers cases. Information about the presence of temporary migrant workers in the construction sector is commonly obtained by direct observations when visiting construction sites. Exchange with Labour Inspection authorities and the employers organization is part of established procedures. The information chain in the wood sector is in fact unfortunately purely informal and it is primarily based on personal relations of the union representatives on the field. Although the actual number is very difficult to estimate, it is clear that only a small percentage of the temporary migrant workers is known to the unions. Rakennusliitto s policy is to be as visible as possible at the workplaces. Regular workplace inspections are written in the job descriptions of the 35 regional union officers. These officers are to carry out at least 10 worksite visits per month. This adds up to a total of at least 3,500 inspections per year. When new building projects are initiated site visit orders are systematically distributed along the regional officers. Therefore coverage of the construction sector workplaces is relatively good, although there are thousands of construction sites in the country. Material about wages, working conditions and health and safety is ordinarily distributed by the shop stewards at the sites, by trade union officers visiting the workplaces, at educational events, at all union offices and on the union website. On the union s material the name of a person who can be contacted for information and help is indicated. Using written material in different languages is a practical way of, at least to some extent, solving the language and communication problem. Short leaflets with the most crucial basic information, for instance wages, regulations about working time etc. are printed and the union officers hand out these leaflets to workers with whom there is no common language. The help of other bilingual workers or shop stewards at the sites is used when possible. Professional interpretation and translation services are utilized when needed. The regional officers work is pragmatically supported by the central organization, avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy. There is an understanding about the importance to promote the trust-building process since it is a crucial way to overcome the workers reluctance in joining the trade unions. The officers also arrange information events at the sites. During the typically three hour long sessions, workers have a possibility to clarify questions about wages and working conditions. All workers at the site are welcome to these events, migrants as well as others. 12 Strengthening social inclusion - FINLAND

13 Sometimes special campaign visits are arranged, for example when some new legislation concerning the sector has been achieved or because the union desires to attract attention to some specific issue. At those extracurricular events, the employees of the central office and the trade union leaders may take part. Several campaign visits during the last years have targeted wage dumping and the abuse of migrant workers. Informing and campaigning efforts are important in order to increase the willingness of migrants to approach unions. Still, the capacity of the unions to demonstrate tangible aid to the workers remains even more important. Unions strive to show migrants what the concrete benefits of joining are, and how they are able help the workers. Successful encounters with the unions have in time decreased the threshold of even the most vulnerable group, the temporary migrant workers, to ask for advice and help. The majority of the migrant workers within the construction sector, the Estonians, appear to be increasingly confident in approaching Rakennusliitto. The electrical workers union, Sähköliitto, has a good reputation with Polish electricians temporarily working in Finland. In case a worker who is not a member of the union reports a problem, the union officer explains that the goal of the union is to supervise the interests of its paying members and proposes to the worker to enroll. The unions provide information and basic advice to all workers within the sector, but in order to get more specific assistance the worker has to enroll. In order to receive legal aid, a history of a minimum of six months of membership is required. For unionized workers, assisted by the trade unions, the percentage of satisfactory solutions reached in case of controversies is high. In matters of public importance or issues concerning large amounts of workers the unions make exceptions to the rule of required membership and sometimes do help workers that are not members. There is a current debate within the trade union movement in Finland about the amplitude of help that should be given to non-unionized workers. It is oftentimes difficult to instruct union employees about the policies, since decisions about conduct might need to be made case by case, keeping many different aspects in mind. When a worker presents his problem, assuming that the membership issue is solved, the trade union officer starts by collecting the relevant information, also contacting the employer in order to get sufficient information from both parties. The trade union helps the migrant worker in ensuring that the employers comply with collective agreements and the law, and gives legal aid in questions of employment. Other benefits linked with the membership are strike pay and other support during industrial action, the right to take part in union activities at the workplace, branch and national union levels, stand as a candidate for election to the committees that decide on policy in these areas, training, newspapers etc. Rakennusliitto estimates that there is less xenophobia in the construction sector workplaces than the union feared before the borders were opened. The attitudes probably vary to a certain degree depending on the workplaces and the migrant workers of different nationalities. Strengthening social inclusion - FINLAND 13

14 Construction workers generally respect professional skills. If a migrant worker takes care of the task at hand he will in most cases be acknowledged for his craftsmanship. This respect from Finnish co-workers promotes the migrant worker s adapting process and at least to some extent, helps to clear culturally related misunderstandings. In Finland, the majority of the temporary migrant workers within the construction sector are Estonian, and thus look very similar to Finnish people. Also the Estonian and Finnish languages are similar. This makes it easier for the Estonian temporary migrant workers to melt into the group. The Estonians have adapted relatively well both into the workplaces and the trade union movement. In accordance with the pragmatic approach of Rakennusliitto, a decision has been made to promote flexibility in membership changes for the Estonian members. The union s Estonian members who tend to move between the two neighbouring countries, changing between working in Finland and Estonia, are allowed to all union benefits, including legal aid, from day one upon returning from Estonia to Finland. Establishing an own office in Tallinn has proved to be a justifiable strategy for Rakennusliitto. The office functions as a link between the Finnish union and the Estonian community. The cooperation between the Finnish unions and the authorities of other countries sending workers to Finland needs to be improved. 14 Strengthening social inclusion - FINLAND

15 1.3 National Report GERMANY A. Facts and figures related to temporary migrant workers in the construction/wood industries in Germany. A sum of estimations leads to a number of approximately 250,000 temporary migrant workers within the construction and wood industries in Germany. Nationalities 1 Percentage Polish 30% Romanians 12% Bulgarians 8% Croatians 5% Hungarians 5% All other Eastern-Europeans (including new MS, ex-soviet union and Ex- Jugoslav) and posted Turkish 20% West Europeans 15% Asians, Africans 5% The main flows come from Eastern Europe, but in this field there are strong regional differences. South-West Europeans are concentrated in the lower and Western regions of Germany, while Polish workers and other citizens of Eastern European countries are particularly present in Eastern Germany and in the region of Berlin. Estimations lead to believe that around 75% of these workers is officially registered in some way with the German authorities (short-term working contract, official posting, job, self-employment including bogus self-employment), including situations in which the registration does not coincide with their real situation, or in case of the EU-citizens - they are temporarily working in Germany legally without a registration, in the framework of the European freedom of providing services, with a selfemployment registration in their home country. At least 25% of the temporary migrant workers are not registered as workers but have touristic visa or simply no registration. Some individuals are not officially registered as workers even if they would be entitled as EU citizens, because they are regis- Strengthening social inclusion - GERMANY 15

16 tered back home as farmers or unemployed and receive benefits or subsidies, working at the same time illicitly in Germany. There are also significant rates of day-to-day recruitment amongst the unregistered and irregular workers., (e.g. sans-papiers, Russians and Ukrainians with tourist visa, also some Polish, Romanians, Hungarians and Bulgarians). Many of the Bulgarians and Romanians who fall victim to the day-by-day recruitment belong to the Roma minority. The majority of these workers are allegedly posted (40-45%) or self-employed (20%) while 30-35% is irregular. Around 5-10% is hired by temporary agencies 2 and around the same percentage is employed on a seasonal basis. Official records (non-exhaustive, as they include only the main construction industries) report 69,308 posted workers in the construction industry in Germany. Workers are very often (approximately in 70% of the cases) employed by means of subcontracting chains, up to 15 levels. Gang-masters and middle-men play an important role, recruiting and employing around 20% of these workers. We observe higher concentrations of temporary migrants in the workforce of the big enterprises (more than 250 employees). They are mainly employed in very small (less than 10 workers) and very big (more than 250 workers) workplaces, with a slightly lower presence in medium-sized workplaces. They are particularly present in the sectors of construction of buildings, finishing, demolition and manufacturing of metal structural products, while their presence is lower, but significant, in the forestry and wood sectors. The wide majority of the construction workplaces in Germany present workers from different nationalities, but the percentage is lower in the wood sector. The majority of temporary migrants are qualified workers, but very often they are registered and paid as unskilled workers. Real unskilled workers represent anyway approximately 30% of the migrant workforce. B. Working conditions of temporary migrant workers in Germany. Forms of abuse and exploitation The level of information on labour law and working conditions amongst temporary migrant workers is very low. They are sometimes partly informed on the rules on minimum wage, but as a general rule they are unaware of their own rights. Circumventions and abuse are therefore frequent, in particular in the field of salary and payments. According to our estimations there is approximately a 10% of workers who does not receive any payment, and another 10% who gradually stops receiving payment after having received them in the beginning. The most frequent abuse (60%) is anyway under-payment compared to the relevant collective agreement and to the number of hours actually worked (typical cases of workers properly paid for 40 hours officially worked per-week, while they actually work 50 hours or more). Frequently they do not receive reimbursement for travel, board and lodging, which costs are in fact deducted from their salaries (often up to disproportionate amounts). 16 Strengthening social inclusion - GERMANY

17 Social security, which according to the EU rules is paid in the home country of the workers, is often calculated on the basis of the local general minimum salaries, which is lower than the one for the construction industry and of course extremely lower than the German one. Romanian workers have so-called insurances which are extremely cheap as they are for tourists and do not cover accidents at work. German trade unions know of several cases of workers seriously ill or injured who were immediately sent back home by private means because they were not properly insured, or brought to the hospital by gang-masters or by their interpreters, claiming not to know them and to have found them unconscious on the road. In some cases severely injured workers were just thrown out of the car in front of a hospital. Overtime work, as mentioned earlier, is often the other face of under-payment. In many cases migrants work 11 or 12 hours a-day (the legal maximum is 10) for 6 days-aweek. Holiday is usually not properly paid or not paid at all, but the employers manage to receive full contribution by SOKA by producing false documents and declarations by the workers. Safety gear, shoes, hand protection and other safety instruments are often charged to the worker and not provided by the employer. Helmets are more often provided, for the simple reason of visibility. Communication and explanation of safety rules are difficult because of linguistic barriers Fraudulent practices are also linked to the fiscal situation of the workers. Polish, Romanian and Bulgarian workers are cheated regarding the reimbursement of their paid income tax by tax advisers in cooperation with the employers. The worker signs the reimbursement without knowing that he is allowing the tax adviser to cash it. Finally, as we mentioned earlier, there are diffused practices of under-qualification: skilled and semi-skilled workers are hired as unskilled and paid the pertinent minimum wage. We also often face taylorisation of the workers, performing only a small part of the work they are trained for. Compared to the numerous violations, only a limited number of complaints are lodged every year. In this respect there is an absolute lack of reliable data, but trade union officers estimate that they face approximately 400 cases of complaints every year, with on average 5 workers per case, thus we can speak of around 2,000 workers in the construction and wood industry who file a complaint with the trade unions. C. Trade union role and policy with regard to temporary migrant workers The German trade unions have developed several structures to deal with migrant workers. IG Metall has a general migration department, supported by regional and local staff and by external lawyers and interpreters, working within a larger network with DGB and its project Faire Mobilitaet. IG BAU has the same structure, with a specialized unit named EMWU, which was originally created as a separate trade union for migrant workers (the project faced several difficulties and the idea of an independent trade union was abandoned in 2009). Eve- Strengthening social inclusion - GERMANY 17

18 ry year approximately temporary migrant workers in the construction industry become members of the German trade unions, even if in the majority of the cases their membership terminates after some months for non-payment of fees. The trade unions get information on the presence of migrant workers by different means: visits on the workplaces, information by other trade unions, migrants, workcouncil members, public authorities, shop-owners, priests, journalists, NGOs, direct call by the workers. There is no exchange of information on particular cases with the employers, with whom only general issues are discussed. Despite all these efforts, it is estimated that approximately 10% of the migrant workers on the territory is known to the German trade unions. Contacts with workers are established by means of leaflets, websites, visits on site and in major accommodation places, visits to networks frequented by the migrants, like churches on Sunday afternoons. Posters are affixed in shops, bus stations and in other places where the migrants can see them. Information meetings are held and published, and over the years there has been a significant production of leaflets, brochures and advertising material in the mother tongues of the migrants. In 2009 a documentary Ausbeutung einkalkuliert ( inclusive of exploitation ) was produced and distributed to spread awareness on the conditions and problems of migrant workers in the construction industry. Activities were carried out both at national and regional level: in December 2011 leaflets were published summarizing the collective agreement in the region of Bavaria. We have also examples of material developed in collaboration with trade unions of the sending countries (e.g. with Solidarnosc, for Polish workers). Anyway, the majority (80%) of the contacts with the workers starts by initiative of the trade unions when officers visit worksites and explain their rights to the workers in their own language, sometimes after they have been informed by third parties about an irregular situation. Experience shows that usually a one-time visit leads to nothing, and that several contacts are necessary for the workers to open up to the trade unions. Workers are often scared, and need to be absolutely sure that the employer and his spies or most foremen are not within earshot. 20% of the contacts which start from the workers are often really serious cases of non-payment or unsafe working conditions. Moreover, many workers - mainly from Eastern Europe - bring with them a negative prejudice about trade unions, based on past experiences or also anti-union propaganda back home. The German trade unions, at regional level, are running two projects which aim to provide and improve information to temporary migrant workers about their own rights. The project Faire Mobilität, carried out by DGB, is addressed to migrant workers from new EU member states in Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, Munich and Dortmund areas, with the objective of informing them about their rights and obligations in Gemany and helping them to claim them. The project EVW-Beratungsstelle Mainz, run by IGBAU, pursues the same aims in Mainz and the state of Rheinland-Pfalz. Both projects are still ongoing, but the results so far seem very positive and encouraging. 18 Strengthening social inclusion - GERMANY

19 It is very difficult to enforce recruitment and organization mechanisms of temporary migrants from the beginning of their stay. As long as there are no problems, it is very unlikely that a migrant worker contacts the trade unions just to report their presence. They contact the unions or answer openly to their questions when something is already going wrong. Almost each temporary migrant worker who becomes a member has an immediate problem to be solved or addressed, which explains why, as we pointed out before, in 95% of the cases they pay union fees only until the problem has been solved. As this behaviour, if generalized, would lead the trade unions to bankrupt, in the past years there was a debate within the German trade unions about the opportunity of representing these workers. Anyway, finally the opinion prevailed that the only way to overcome this utilitarian mentality by the workers is to win the trust of their communities by helping those who are in need. When finally a worker lodges a complaint with the trade unions there is a first examination of the case by a specialised officer with the necessary language knowledge and the local branch of the trade union identifies the exact claim of the workers and whom to address it (the employer and/or the general contractor and/or the public or private final customer). Contacts with the worker are carried out by visits on site or, if necessary, by meetings in the neighbourhoods of the workplace with the workers. Membership remains a condition to receive legal assistance, but if it s the case the trade unions offer to deduct the membership fee later, when the worker gets his compensation. Trade union officers try to evaluate if there are other workers in the same circumstances and, if possible, to involve them. Written and oral claims are then addressed to the employer and in the majority of the cases a negotiation with the employer or his general contractor begins. When a solution is found, the negotiated sum is usually paid out to the workers cash-in-hand in the presence of the trade union representatives by the employer or his general contractor. A free-of-charge transport to their home country is often part of the package for posted workers. In the cases of bogus self-employment the usual line of the trade union is to contest the legal façade and claim the minimum wage, which is often a good ground for a compromise. In case of non-paid salaries the amount is calculated with a standard procedure applied by the German trade unions for decades, adapted from time to time to new judgments of labour courts or other new circumstances. In general it works well. The critical issues are the determination of the collective agreements to be applied; the full understanding of the financial and organisational network of the contractor, especially in case of chains of subcontracting, necessary to identify exactly the target of the complaint; the collection of evidence, testimonies and other means of proof; keeping in contact with the worker when his case proceeds after he has returned to his home country. The determination of the payment of migrant workers social security is the most difficult part: in Germany public offices working on the issues linked with A1 forms and with bogus self-employment are small and understaffed back-office units within the social insurance system at DRV Bund. Procedures are therefore very slow also in very clear cases, therefore mail-box companies have the time to disappear without leaving traces. Strengthening social inclusion - GERMANY 19

20 It is difficult to assess the effectiveness of the initiatives of the trade unions to support the workers complaints. As a general rule, when workers stick together when claiming their rights frequently a good compromise is found. On the other hand, when they are split and tend to give up to the intimidations by the employers it is very difficult to obtain good results. The German trade unions have several bilateral agreements regarding migrant workers, with e.g. Polish, Dutch, Italian trade unions there is a more formal cooperation agreement, which includes, in the case of the agreement with a Dutch trade union (IG BAU FNV BOUW) the mutual recognition of the membership and legal assistance. The agreement with the Polish unions faces problems because of the different trade unions structures in the two countries. In Poland there is company-trade unionism, which means that the majority of the workers who are recruited for posting are not unionized. 1. The posting figures of SOKA 2011 show the distribution of individual persons posted as construction workers in the main construction business to Germany (SOKA report for 2011 is available on their website/ percentage own calculation) without workers posted by electricians, painters, roofers, plumbers, floor- and tile-trades, joiners, gypsum-workers companies. Number of individual construction workers posted by companies from country and percentage of posted construction workers from that country in relation to all posted construction workers (Individuals in 2011: ): Posted by companies from Country Absolute number of officially posted construction workers in 2011 Per cent of all officially posted construction workers Poland % Austria % Romania ,2% Croatia % Hungary % Bosnia-Hercegovina % Netherlands % Portugal % All other old EU-15 MS plus EEA (those with less than 3000 posted workers per country) All other new EU-MS plus Serbia, Macedonia and Turkey (those with less than 3000 posted workers per country) 7.5% 13,8 Construction is one of the most important sectors for bogus self-employment of temporary migrant workers. To calculate the no. of solo self employed in our sectors who are in fact dependent workers and temporary migrants is much more difficult as there are no statistics available but based on the reports and our on-site experiences as trade-unions one can say that the Polish are the biggest group with approx. 20% and Romanians and Bulgarians the second biggest group with ~10-15 % each and less than 10% for Hungarians. A study of the Chamber of Commerce of Berlin reported proudly that 3071 Polish citizens have registered a construction business in the City of Berlin recently (but only 17 of them used a company form usual for real entrepreneurs). 20 Strengthening social inclusion - GERMANY

21 Temporary migrants from outside the EU like Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia etc. do play not a big role here as their countries still enjoy neither freedom of establishment nor freedom of services. The same can be said of the Austrians and Dutch from Western Europe but the reason here is clearly that they would not accept the wages paid for bogus self-employment in Germany, and this still applies also to Irish and British. At the moment we still cannot say if the so-called debt crisis will not change that situation: More and more Greek, Portuguese, Irish and Spanish self-employed entrepreneurs look for work here and the old group of bogus self-employed from the UK has never completely vanished and may rise again due to the difficult situation in construction there. These groups are registered back home and will not be counted here. But there are still many cases in which the registration is done here to disguise the exploitation of temporary migrant workers by agencies recruiting workers from Eastern and Central Europe. After some months or years many of the registrations are deregistered or simply deleted by the authorities due to non-payment of taxes, fees etc. and/or no real address. The German Economic research institute DIW reported in their Wochenbericht 18 / 2011 on p. 12 the following relatively high percentage share figures of EU-10 executing entrepreneurs in some subsectors of the on-site trades: tiling 25%, ironworks 24%, manufacturing of concrete floors on site 14%, cable in buildings 13%, wooden floors 10 %, drying of construction sites 8 %, wood and building protection with chemicals and paints 8%, other floors 7%. The temporary migrant sans-papiers and temporary illicit workers with documents are even more difficult to count by their nationalities. The first group is composed mainly of Ex-Yugoslaves, Ukrainian, White Russians, Russians and Citizens of other Ex-Soviet Union countries, several Turkish and only some Africans (with a rising number of North Africans) and Latin Americans. The second group is composed of a mixture of half-legal part-time moonlighters from many EU-MS, mainly East-european, operating under the legal disguise of a so-called or Gleitzone -job (registered as part-time without and with social-security, but working full-time and paid cash-in-hand for the illicit hours) and full-time illicit work, but with an official place-of-living and registration of their presence for the months of their stay and tourists from the ex-soviet union countries, Asia etc.. 2. In Germany agency work is illegal only in the main construction industry. But often de-facto agency work in construction is disguised as subcontractor posting job. The percentage here is applying only for wood and some construction subsectors like painting, plumbers and electricians where agency work could be legal. Most of the legally operating agencies are registered here and the number of East-Europeans among the staff they hire out is rapidly increasing. We still have no indications whether the Eastern Europeans employed by the agencies here are temporary migrants or immigrants. Strengthening social inclusion - GERMANY 21

22 1.4 National Report ITALY A. Facts and figures relating to temporary migrant workers in the construction industry in Italy From 2008 to 2012 the construction industry in Italy has faced a deep crisis, which led to a 30% decrease of the investments in the sector. Between 350,000 and 550,000 workplaces in the sector were lost, with dramatic consequences for migrant workers. In 2011 and 2012 for the first time a stop of the growth of foreign employment in the sector was registered. Unfortunately, there are no reliable data regarding the presence of temporary migrant workers in the construction industry in Italy. The European Commission s data on the A1 certificates, which does not make a distinction between economic sectors, show that in 2011 Italy was one of the main countries of destination of posted workers, with 64,223 issued certificates. There are Istat data, referring to the average of the first half of 2012, which show that the construction sector is the one with the largest number of foreign workers. According to data from the Labour Force Survey, there are 346,000 migrant workers employed in the construction sector. About 90% of the professions exercised by foreigners are "building site works" while for the Italians the rate drops to 60%. Among the natives almost 15% are employed for skilled works, while the rate among foreigners is around 1%. Self-employment is extremely frequent: in 2008, over a total of 1,943,000 persons employed in the construction industry in Italy, 731,000 were self-employed. The rate is extremely high both among Italian and migrant workers, and trade unions repeatedly denounced that false self-employment is a real plague in the sector. It should also be noted that part-time work is increasingly important both for the Italians and foreigners. Finally, even if the decline in Italian labor probably also reduces the illegal work between nationals, immigrant illegal work continues to increase. B. Working conditions Legal enforcement of the provision regarding posted and foreign self-employment in Italy is extremely weak, in particular form the point of view of monitoring. Trade unions estimate that the wide majority of the cases of posting within the construction industry are created to save costs and to circumvent labour law and obligations. Moreover, there is an extremely high rate of self-employed workers (more than 22 Strengthening social inclusion - ITALY

23 half) and very often undertakings in the construction sector are registered as associations of self-employed workers. False posting is very frequent: migrants stably residing in Italy, in particular from Romania and Poland, are hired by mail-box companies in their country of origin and posted in Italy. EU rules on the posting of workers are almost never observed, and the salary of these workers is often calculated on the basis of the minimum salary in their country of origin. Expenses for travel, board and lodging are almost always charged to the worker. Italian employers more and more often create fictitious companies in Eastern European countries in order to evade labour obligations. Recently in the transport sector there was a very famous case in which Italian truck drivers were proposed to sign Polish contracts to work in Italy. These are just examples which show how in Italy it is often difficult to distinguish posting of workers and completely illegal forms of employment. The involvement of organized crime in the construction industry is very strong not only in southern regions, and Mafia often uses the exploitation of foreign workers, concealing itself in long chains of subcontracting and other unclear forms of employment. In the construction sector, foreigners earn on average 133 per month less than their Italian colleagues at the same level of skill. Wage differentiation is particularly significant among the highly-qualified professionals (between conductors and crane operators, there is a difference of 152 euro per month between Italians and foreigners) and the low-skilled (the difference is 195 Euros per month). This is a further indicator that goes to confirm how the immigrant component is the one that most paid the downturn. Another particularly critical aspect for migrants is the recognition of qualifications. The use of foreign labour is concentrated in the less qualified activities. According to CNCE Data 58% of foreigners in 2011 worked as unskilled workers, compared to 29.5% of Italians. Only 5% of the migrants in the construction industry in Italy are employed as qualified workers, while the rate among Italian workers is approximately 35%. Finally, the construction industry in Italy is the one with the higher rate of injuries, and this rate is significantly higher for migrant workers. C. Trade union role and policy The development of trade union policies to organize and recruit migrant workers faces several basic problems in Italy. First of all, the construction sector is extremely fragmented: in Italy there are 775,000 building companies with an average of 2.4 employees per company. As mentioned earlier, many undertakings are registered as associations of self-employed workers in order to reduce costs, circumvent labour obligations and registrations to the Casse Edili. Approximately 10% of the construction companies are based abroad. Strengthening social inclusion - ITALY 23

24 Therefore the monitoring of the territory and the visits to the workplaces carried out regularly by the local trade union officers have very limited effect in covering the huge number of very small construction sites in the private sector. In addition, black labour is extraordinarily diffused, in particular in the Southern regions, where organized crime plays a lead role in investing in the construction industry. The distinction between illegal work, posting and self-employment is often dim: supposedly posted workers, who are actually recruited among the unemployed long -term migrants (in particular Romanian and Polish as for EU- citizens, or North-Africans and Latin American as third country-nationals) are recruited by mail-box companies and receive salaries calculated on the basis of the country-of-origin labour law and collective agreements. In the recent years the problem has been growing in relevance (in the Northern regions it is estimated that posted workers constitute up to 10% of the workforce in the construction sector) becoming a priority the Italian trade union movement, which have experimented with several solutions: in the region of Lombardy an agreement was signed between the sector trade unions (FILLEA-CIL, FILCA-CISL, FENEAL-UIL) with the relevant employers organization, with the aim of adopting coherent strategies to grant posted workers the same conditions of employment than other migrant workers. This agreement has had encouraging results, in particular by providing that posted workers who do not receive equal treatment have to be registered to the Italian Casse edili. Brochures and leaflets with exhaustive information on minimum salary, social security and other working conditions are printed and distributed. In 2007 FILCA CISL published a multi-lingual Guide for migrant workers providing not just legal and fiscal information but also practical health and safety suggestions for migrant workers in the construction sector in Italy. Migrant workers appear to be more interested in minimum wages and fiscal norms than in health and safety rules, which importance is often dangerously underestimated. The trade unions often send officers to the neighbourhoods of consulates and embassies of the relevant countries, and seek to build connection with associations and clubs of foreigners. They also organize (migration section FILLEA CGIL in particular) events and celebrations addressed to the migrant communities. FENEAL UIL is supporting an integrated strategy for social inclusion of migrant workers being an active member of the UIL National Network for migrant workers. The trade unions employ officers speaking the main languages of the immigrants (Romanian, Polish, Arab, Albanian, Ex-Jugoslav) and often charge them to do visits in the workplaces and the information services for the migrants. The three main Italian trade unions employ more than a hundred foreign officers with relevant linguistic skills. Nevertheless, the vast majority of the contacts with the trade unions are established by the workers only when they face extremely heavy situations of exploitation and abuse. On a national basis, FENEAL UIL offers guide and counseling to migrant workers in cooperation with the migrant communities and organisations and also implements pilot projects towards promotion of equal rights for migrant workers. 24 Strengthening social inclusion - ITALY

25 Basically temporary migrant workers do not understand the role of the trade unions, and if not provided with adequate information they are basically suspicious, misunderstanding the unions as part of the authorities. Nevertheless experience shows that the positive attitude and the commitment of the trade unions often generates long term relationships of trust from first contacts. It can be estimated that approximately 50% of the temporary migrants who address the trade unions for a problem become subsequently members. In recent years there has been an increasing presence of migrant workers in the representative bodies of the three main organizations (FILEA-CGIL, FILCA CISL, FENEAL-UIL). The main problem related with assisting temporary migrant workers who lodge complaints is related to the difficulty of identifying and sanctioning the employer. Very small and semi-legal undertakings, often employing workers by means of letter-box companies in the countries of origin of the workers, are very quick to disappear when serious contestations arise. In Italy the enforcement mechanisms of the legislation on the posting of workers, with regards to the social security payments in the countries of origin of the workers, are extremely weak, and it is often very difficult to establish whether these payments are made or not at all. In 2008 the so-called DURC (Documento Unico di Regolarità Contributiva - Single Document of Social Security Compliance) was introduced in the Italian legislation. The DURC is a certification of compliance with the labour law obligations regarding taxes and social security that the undertakings are obliged to obtain, as a mandatory condition to participate to public and private procurements. The DURC has proved to be a positive and effective tool, but it has the fairly significant limitation of being based on the undertaking and not on the single workers. The consequence is that dishonest undertakings can employ regularly a limited number of workers in order to obtain the DURC and participate to the procurements and then work with a higher number of irregular workers. The Italian trade unions are therefore strongly campaigning to shift the subject of the certification from the undertaking to every single worker. In Italy the situation of Romanian workers appears to be particularly delicate. Despite the Romanians being the main community of permanent and temporary migrants within the country, and in particular within the construction industry, the trade unions report that often Romanian workers have difficulties in integrating at working and social level, and even more so in the trade unions. Many Romanian workers migrate to Italy in the framework of familiar or friendly networks which directly introduce them to forms of illegal or semi-legal work, very often in the construction industry. They do not have any knowledge of labour law and social security rules in Italy and usually do not know the language. Therefore, they are easy victims of exploitation, but very seldom contact the trade unions. Within the construction industry, they are pushed by the difficult integration in such a fragmented and precarious sector to create own activities or to work as self-employed, usually violating labour law. Unfortunately so far the attempts by the Italian trade unions to collaborate with the Romanian ones did not produce remarkable results, also because of the low rate of trade union membership among migrant workers. Strengthening social inclusion - ITALY 25

26 The Italian trade unions have several bilateral agreements with trade unions from other countries regarding temporary migrant workers, in particular with the German trade union IG-BAU, and with the Swiss trade union Unia, with which FILLEA-CGIL has two agreements, one for general cooperation and the other one addressed for crossborder commuters in border regions. Specific protocols are signed between the trade unions and the employers organization with regards to works for particular events (recently it happened for the 2015 Expo in Milan). In 2013 a protocol was signed between the social partners and the labour ministry with the aim of a better exchange of information and legal standards enforcement on posted workers in the construction sector, providing mandatory registration to the Italian Casse Edili for workers not properly treated by their home country authorities. 26 Strengthening social inclusion - ITALY

27 1.5 National Report NETHERLANDS A. Facts and figures related to temporary migrant workers in the construction and wood sector in the Netherlands There are no reliable figures available with regard to the short-term stay of temporary labour migrants, posted workers and seasonal workers. Existing data do not provide a sector division. Estimations show that 80% of the labour migrants originate from the EU member states, notably Poland, Germany, Bulgaria and Romania. Own calculation by several authors vary between 7,401 and 16,201 CEE-migrants active in construction, with temporary agency work being the bulk of the workforce (Regioplan 2012). However, other figures speak about 70,000 Polish workers in construction of whom 55,000 are self-employed (Aannemersfederatie 2008). As from 1 January 2007 the restrictions for EU8 citizens have been lifted. Workers that want to enter the labour market, be it for a permanent job, be it for temporary work or seasonal work via agencies from these countries, no longer need a work permit and one of the consequences is that no quantitative data exist. Employers that want to post workers to the Netherlands neither have to notify the size nor the composition of the workforce. Therefore, posted workers (and self-employed that deliver cross-border services) are not registered. The notification of posted work to the UWV neither contains figures related to sector of activity, nor to the size of the workforce. As the provision of services is free for all EU citizens, every self-employed within the EU borders (also Bulgarian, Romanian and 3rd country nationals) can enter the Dutch labour market without a work permit. Notification of service provision is mandatory, but is limited to the type of work, the location and duration and the client or user undertaking. In the post World War II period workers from neighbouring countries (United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium) dominated the foreign workforce in the construction sector. Though little is known about the size and the sectorial distribution, some available figures and estimates indicate that the overall number of posted workers (all industries) increased in five years ( ), from 17,848 to 62,548 with the largest groups of posted workers coming from Belgium, Germany and Poland. The number of posted workers from these countries increased enormously: Germany (+15,377), Belgium (+13,622) and Poland (+9,453). The two neighbouring countries accounted for approximately two thirds of all posted workers. The number of posted workers from Poland (since 2007) and Germany (since 2008) has stabilised, while the number of Belgian posted workers has decreased. Though during the last decade the labour migration of low-educated workers has been a phenomenon consisting to a large extent of workers from EU member states, in recent years posted work with Portuguese workers (notably steel fixers) is on the rise again. Strengthening social inclusion - NETHERLANDS 27

28 On average 22% of the overall number of EU citizens stays for less than one year, 18% for 1 to 2 years, 13% for 2 to 3 years. This means that more than 50% of them leaves the country within 3 years (data from 2010). There are no figures for construction but, as the larger sites have a duration of 12 months, the impression is that workers stay 6 months (they usually return home before 183 days for tax reasons) and are soon posted again, even on the same site. Several authors estimate that in the construction industry in the Netherlands there are between 1,800 and 6,500 posted workers, plus 2,000 posted self-employed. 5,600 to 7,000 workers are employed by temporary work agencies while less than 700 migrant workers are directly employed by undertakings based in the country. Data on selfemployed workers do not make distinction between Dutch citizens and migrants: 73,000 to 100,000 self-employed workers are active within the construction industry in the Netherlands. Bogus self-employed are often recruited in their home country and then sent to the Netherlands without any knowledge about their rights, working conditions and wages. They often do not know that they are registered as self-employed in their home country. This phenomenon is increasing and causes difficulties in enforcing labour standards. The subsequent effect is underpayment and the pressure to lower working conditions. Temporary migrant workers in the Netherland are rarely directly employed by national undertakings. Subcontracting is frequent on several levels, with a significant role played by agencies and gang-masters. They are concentrated within the construction of buildings, cleaning, demolition and manufacture of metal structural products subsectors and they are often employed by big-size undertakings. Polish workers represent the main share of the migrant workforce (30-50%). There are growing percentages of Bulgarian, Hungarian and Portuguese workers. More than half of them are employed as unskilled or semi-unskilled workers, even if their actual training level is much higher. B. Working conditions and frequent forms of abuse and circumvention In the Netherlands there are different collective agreements for normal workers and temporary agency workers. For the latter, minimum wages are lower than for normal workers. There are no reliable data with regard to circumvention and abuses. In the framework of the work of the Compliance Office for Temporary Agencies (NSCU) construction counted for 20 investigations over a total of 461 investigations in all industries. The size of this sample is too small to come up with serious estimations. However, based on work on site and trade union experience the main item is probably non-payment of applicable wages and problems with working hours and nonpayment of overwork. A third item is the skills-job mismatch. Finally, the impression from recent cases is that there is to a certain extent an abuse of the social security legislation. 28 Strengthening social inclusion - NETHERLANDS

29 With regard to the sanctions, in the Netherlands the problem is the lack of enforcement and of coordination between the different inspections and competent authorities. The Dutch enforcement methods are fragmented. Essential tools are missing (registration of workers, decent notification of posting, regular check of respect for the social security obligations) and there is no established cross-border contact with relevant organisations and institutions in other countries. The Labour Inspectorate can impose administrative fines on companies that violate the legal minimum wages regulations. The Inspectorate can prosecute an employer when there is a question of non-respect of the minimum pay, no holiday allowance paid or the employer fails to present information about the sort of work or terms of employment and/or number of hours. Moreover, the Labour Inspectorate has no competence to enforce collective agreements as its enforcement duties are limited to the legal minimum wage provisions and other labour law-related working conditions. The Inspectorate can only signal that collective agreements are not respected. The result of such an investigation will be communicated to the social partners that can demand compliance authorised by the Collective Agreements Act; this is enforced through private law. C. Role and activities of the trade unions Due to the short stay and poor statistics, the trade unions have difficulties in organising posted workers. Even when workers stay for a longer period, they live in separate housing, campsites and other accommodations. Some employers deliberately try to separate foreign from local workers, because they are afraid that these foreign workers hear from their colleagues about their rights, wages and working conditions. Only in cases of serious problems (and often too late) the trade unions and/or the Labour Inspectorate get in touch with foreign posted workers. In order to follow-up complaints the workers concerned still have to live in the Netherlands and must be willing to talk. The registration of posted workers is not functioning properly. Figures for A1/ E101 forms are missing or not reliable, resulting in incomplete figures. The Dutch trade unions do not have separate structures or offices to deal with migrant workers, but in the border regions and with respect to big building sites there are officers strongly committed on this topic. Both the FNV and CNV union have experimented with pilot projects that were assisted by Polish speaking intermediates. The building and wood unions FNV Bouw and CNV Vakmensen started projects to establish contacts and to monitor problems of posted workers. The project Kolega, later on called FNV Bouwplaats aims to represent the interests of foreign workers. The project tried to establish contacts with foreign workers through cultural (Polish) organisations, churches, media and employment agencies and to find out what kind of problems arise on site. The Polish-Dutch members of the team tried to solve the problems or to mediate, and they represented workers during negotiations. Strengthening social inclusion - NETHERLANDS 29

30 In 2007/2008 CNV decided to face the increasing emergency of Polish workers exploitation within the construction industry and started a project with the purpose of solving problems or to mediate between workers and employers and provide information to the workers. The project ran until 2011 and was later integrated into the daily activities of the trade unions. The core of the projects consisted in identifying 10/12 Polish women volunteers who had been living in the Netherlands for a long time and had a good knowledge of the Dutch language. They were provided with an essential training on the trade union role and structure, labour law and working conditions in the Netherlands and then used as persons of contact who the Polish workers could address to ask and receive information in their mother tongue. Workers who reported any kind of problems were provided with the necessary information and, in case they needed legal assistance, invited to join the union (In order to avoid free-running they are requested to pay in advance their affiliation fee). One of these women in the following period was hired by the trade union and employed as an officer in the region of Breda. An evaluation of the concrete results of the project is not easy.. However, since 2 years the main policy is to focus on the monitoring of large sites. In these cases the unions work with the mapping of clients and contractors, regular site visits and, in cooperation with inspection services, control and enforcement strategies. Information on the presence of migrants is collected on a case by case basis, via union members on sites, complaints from migrant workers and by means of site visits. Overall the frequency of visits is very low. Construction sites are temporary and scattered over the whole country. Members can ask for a site visit of a trade union delegation. In some regions there is a tradition to visit the construction sites with a certain periodicity (for instance once a year) in order to check the working conditions and health and safety situation. The visits are carried out by delegations of local members and officers. Normally there is no specific focus on migrant workers. However, some of the key sites, with a long term planning and duration, are visited almost every month. A large project like the Eemshaven is constantly monitored and here the focus is on the abuses with labour recruitment of foreign workers. The entrance to the sites is often regulated, with trade union officers having badges that allow them to enter. However, this is only the case on large sites, management on many small and medium size sites are often not cooperative. On most sites access is only allowed after notification and under strong restrictions with regard to the contact with workers. In the neighbourhoods of the big building sites the trade unions have sought to establish contacts with foreign workers through cultural organizations, churches, media and employment agencies. Leaflets in several languages are distributed, web news used, intermediates that speak the language and other contact persons are employed within the trade unions. The paritarian institute Technisch Bureau has an English webpage ( which includes brochures, wage scales and tables. Collecting information and contacting workers are very labour intensive activities and the impression is that only the top of the iceberg is visible. Workers from the new member states have difficulties in understanding the role of the trade unions, which are seen as political groups and a part of the authorities instead of independent organizations of workers. 30 Strengthening social inclusion - NETHERLANDS

31 The membership rate among migrant workers remains very low: in the most monitored sites, like Eemshaven, the membership among migrants can go up to 5%. As mentioned earlier, the main policy of the Dutch trade unions to organize and recruit migrant workers is the systematic monitoring of the main building sites. There are no other specific policies, but just occasional campaigns. The frequency of complaints by migrant workers is very low, with a partial exception for big building sites like Eemshaven. However, the impression is that when a complaint is picked up and supported by the trade unions, it is taken seriously, also by the employers. Trade union officers, when in charge of a case, start with an investigation and collection of evidence. Subsequently they contact the main employer/contractor and finally they introduce the case to the TTB (paritarian control office) that can go to court or take other measures. Settlements are often negotiated with regards to controversies related with salaries and payments, while the issue of social security payments is often problematic, because of the weakness of the experiences of crossborder cooperation, with the exception of the daily and weekly commuters between the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Strengthening social inclusion - NETHERLANDS 31

32 1.6 National Report NORWAY A. Facts and figures related to temporary migrant workers in Norway According to the official numbers of the Norwegian government, there are approximately 40,000 labour migrants within the construction industry, but some estimates suggest the real number could be double. Approximately 40% of them are Polish, 20% Lithuanian, 10% Romanian. There is also a significant presence of Latvian, German, British and Estonian citizens, in addition to Swedish, Danish and Icelandic workers. There is a lack of data regarding the percentages of posted and self-employed workers. In 2011, 30,523 A1 certificates were issued with Norway as destination, but this number includes all the sectors. Only on the basis of their experience, experts involved in our research estimate approximately 8,000 posted workers within the construction industry in the country. Roughly half of them are recruited by means of employment agencies, and chain subcontracting is very common, on average on 4 or 5 levels in the public sector, and on 2 or three in the private sector. Around 85% of migrant workers have project contracts, with no salary between one contract and another. Temporary migrant workers are concentrated within the construction of buildings, finishing, cleaning and demolishing sectors, and 4 out of 5 are unskilled workers. Anyway the skilled minority is often paid like the others. B. Working conditions A report from the Labour Inspectorate in 2012 documented that the risk of serious injury is 1.46 times higher for labour migrants/posted workers, the risk of dying in work related accidents is 1.26 times higher. Underpayment is widespread, especially with a link to non-paid overtime. Violations with regard to working time, breaks and paid holidays are common, but often accepted by the workers themselves. At their arrival in Norway migrant workers are often uninformed about labour law and collective agreement standards. According to the evaluation of our experts, very few violations are discovered and sanctioned by the authorities. The most effective sanction is the liability for unpaid wages and holiday money, which have pushed the main contractors to take more care when they hire subcontractors. The Labour Inspectorate can demand that violations of generally binding minimum wages are fixed within a given time limit, if this is not followed up they can close the building site, sometimes also stopping all work performed by an employer in Norway. The opportunity of enabling Labour Inspectors to hand out fines is currently under discussion 32 Strengthening social inclusion - NORWAY

33 C. Role and structure of the trade unions Within the Norwegian trade unions there are no separate structures or offices to deal with migrant workers. The issue is considered to be part of the general work of the unions. A handful of trade unions have officers who are experts on migration and problems of migrants. As a general rule dealing with specific cases is considered a task for the local branches of the union, while the overall policy about migrant and temporary migrant workers is developed by the central union. Some trade unions in Fellesforbundet employs contact persons speaking Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish, Russian, German and, more occasionally, Romanian and Bulgarian. Both the local union and Fellesforbundet have brochures and websites in all these languages and several others. (see bygningsarbeider.no and fellesforbundet.no, and click the flags of the various countries. They are also directly accessible, such as (Bosnian/Serb). There is a new generation of material from Fellesforbundet which focuses more on providing information on the role and functioning of the trade unions and the advantages of becoming members, whereas the first generation focused more on individual and collective rights. The latter are still given space on the web sites, which report exhaustive information on minimum wage and other relevant requirements. Migrant workers often carry with them a negative prejudice of the trade unions, based on negative experiences in their home country. This is the reason it is so important to inform them (like the new generation of material does) on the democratic and independent statute of the trade unions in Norway. The union also carries out visits to the building sites, sometimes just handing out the material, sometimes with contact persons who speak the language of the workers. Usually visits on the workplace are used to establish a first contact with the workers, which are followed by informal meetings during the lunch breaks or at the end of the day. With this aim some unions have also late night opening hours one or two days a week. Big and public working sites are effectively covered by trade union visits, while the situation is naturally much more difficult for small workplaces in private properties, which often fall within the black or grey economy. In the majority of the cases visits to the workplace can take place easily and without impediments. There have been isolated cases of threatening behaviour by part of the undertakings. With regard to the issue of organizing and recruiting temporary migrant workers, Norwegian unions have adopted a gradual strategy. With the first wave of migrants, in the last decade, they took cases from non-members and provided them assistance on a large scale. This approach, financially disadvantageous in the short-term, has favoured a trust building process in the medium period. Today, rules are more restrictive, but for the migrants there is still the possibility of being a non-paying member for a period, in case their salary is not being paid. The provision of services is therefore quite effective and fits to the needs of the workers, but resources are missing for the real long-term aim, which is the education of migrant workers to be active members of the union. The activity of fire-fighting against circumvention and abuse unfortunately drains the trade unions resources. Strengthening social inclusion - NORWAY 33

34 Polish workers have in general a positive attitude towards the trade union, while the situation is more difficult among Baltic migrants, who are usually recruited by gangmasters or other intermediaries who spread wrong information on the trade unions. In particular many of them are led to believe that the trade unions represent Norwegian workers and are therefore hostile to migrants. It is quite difficult to collaborate with migrants communities, in particular in the case of Lithuanian workers, who are generally air-spray and do not have solid networks in Norway. Fellesforbundet subsequently spent resources on communication, stressing that they are associations not for Norwegian workers, but for workers in Norway. Distribution of multilingual material is only a part of the huge work, also political, carried out in order to create a common platform for Norwegian and migrant workers, and to get the tools requested by the members. In 2010 a big and well-participated strike was organised, where Norwegian, Polish and Baltic workers went on strike in order to minimise the gap between the minimum wage and the average wage. There are no reliable date on migrant members, as the unions do not make any difference between migrant and Norwegian members, but turnover numbers in the membership suggest that 200/500 workers only stay for a short period each year. Workers who present their case to the trade union for a complaint often have problems in more than one field: underpayment, overtime working, uncertain payments of social security, non-refunding of travel, board and lodging are often present in the same case, when the employer is a dishonest one. The first task of the trade union officer is therefore to identify the most significant violations and to build a case on them. The worker is then informed on the features of the trade union and invited to join. Approximately 80-90% of the claims regarding wages which are taken on and supported by the trade union come to satisfactory solutions. Unfortunately, many cases are not even taken on, as it is clear from the first moment that there is an absolute lack of evidence. Fellesforbundet and Oslo Building Workers Union have also a bilateral agreement with the Latvian sector trade union LCA which, by including mutual recognition of the membership, has entitled hundreds of Latvian workers to assistance in Norway. 34 Strengthening social inclusion - NORWAY

35 1.7 National Report POLAND A. Facts and figures related to temporary migrant workers in the construction and wood industries in Poland The total number of migrants working in Poland is difficult to determine. Migrants from other countries working in Poland can be divided into several main groups, depending on the work and residence permits they have and on the employment conditions. In 2011, 40,808 work permits were granted for people from third countries, one fifth of which are estimated to work in construction. In the same year, 259,777 people from third countries started work without the permission based on employer notification. About one seventh to one fifth of that number took a job in construction or related industries. Finally, according to data of the European Commission (information from MEP Marek Migdalski) in 2011 there were 15,500 employees posted to Poland (233,000 from Poland), approximately one quarter of which were construction workers (the same proportion can be estimated to apply to the workers posted from Poland) The construction industry is the second sector (after agriculture), in which migrants from Poland take up work. There is a minimal percentage who works in the timber industry, mostly as executives. Migrants generally do not work legally in forestry. There is no fully reliable data on unregistered migrant workers in Poland. There are approximately 80,000 people living without permission in Poland. To this figure should be added the number of those with residence permits, but without a work permit (approximately another 30,000 people). It can be estimated that one sixth of them undertakes unregistered and usually short-term work in the construction industry. It can be estimated that 60,000 to 80,000 regular and unregistered migrants worked in construction and related industries in A majority of these were employed incidentally (mostly for renovation works). Nationalities Ukraine Belarus Moldova Percentage 239,646 (92,25%) notifications 18,669 permits (30% construction) 4,370 notifications 1,725 permits (30% construction) 13,024 notifications 1,017 permits (40% construction) Strengthening social inclusion - POLAND 35

36 Georgia Russia China Turkey Vietnam Nepal India 1,774 notifications (10% construction) 963 notifications (10% construction) - 5,854 permits (20% construction) - 1,187 permits (40% construction) - 2,504 permits (0% construction) - 1,202 permits (30% construction) - 1,055 permits (10% construction) As for employees posted in Poland (in the construction industry) from other EU countries according to the National Labour Inspectorate (Liaison Institution) in 2011 largest groups consisted of citizens from: Slovakia Germany Romania Portugal (approx. 400 employees) (approx. 300 employees) (approx. 150 employees) (approx. 100 employees) All of the above figures relate to legally working employees. According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the National Labour Inspectorate, Budowlani Trade Union estimates that in 2012 approximately 20,000 to 30,000 people from third countries could have been performing unregistered work in the construction sector. Approx. 90% of them were people from Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. However, according to Labour Inspection there are many law violations on posted employees undertaking work not in line with the permission or with the employer notification. Data from the Social Insurance Institution referring to violations of social insurances are not available. Temporary recruitment of migrant employees in construction applies only to irregular workers in renovation and construction works in the countryside and in areas near the Eastern border of Poland. In the first case, recruitment is conducted by small renovation - construction companies (based on individual acquaintances), in the second by the customer (based on individual acquaintances). Data regarding forms of employment of migrants are estimates. Estimates were made based on opinions from the Budowlani Trade Union and the Confederation of Construction and Real Estate employers organization. Part of the posted employees work 36 Strengthening social inclusion - POLAND

37 in the agency. (Figures do not sum up to 100%. The estimate does not cover reemigrants, migrants with the right of permanent residence and refugees with permit to work). Posted workers appr. 4% Seasonal workers (short term workers) appr % Temporary agency workers No data No contract 20-30% False self-employment appr. 10% Total number of posted workers Appr. 3,000 3,500 Number of false postings Appr. 300 Total number of self-employed workers 190,000 (in construction 2010) No data regarding migrants. Number of cases of false self-employment No data. The number of cases identified by NLI did not exceed 1,500. No data regarding migrants. In Poland there is no limit for levels of subcontracting in the construction industry. This applies both to the public and private sector. There is also no obligation for the main contractor to involve its own resources. As a result, there are usually many levels of subcontracting. Employees are often employed directly by the subcontractor companies. Some of the companies performing non-specialized works hire employees through employment agencies (temporary employment agency). Bogus self-employed are recruited in the same way, but this kind of situation is not frequent among migrants. Public Private Direct employment contract 10-20% 10-20% (small contracts) (small contracts) One-level subcontracting 0-10% 0-10% Chains of subcontracting how many levels? Direct employment Employment agencies 30-40% Gang-masters Others (please specify) 70-80% appr. 5 levels highest level registered: % (full time) 70-80% app. 5 levels No data, but it is quite a common practice Smaller employers often recruit self-employed as subcontractors for fulfilling the contract, in which they are subcontractors. In reality those selfemployed are working as employees under management. This is a common practice that may apply to approx % of employed in the construction sector. Strengthening social inclusion - POLAND 37

38 It can be estimated that migrant workers are present in 5-10% of the building sites in Poland. From the point of view of the skill level approximately 5% of them are foremen, 10% specialists, 70% qualified workers and 10% unskilled workers. B. Working conditions and frequent forms of abuse and circumvention The minimum wage in Poland in 2013 is 1625 PLN (392 EUR) per month. It is not calculated by hour and there is no minimum wage on hourly basis. There are no regulations on salaries for civil law contracts. Migrant employees cannot be paid less than the minimal wage for employment based on the work permit. In case of notification it cannot be less than the salary of a Polish worker in a similar position. The average salary in the construction sector (gross) in 2012 was approx. 3,600 PLN (869 EUR). In the Polish construction industry there is no multi-establishment collective agreement. Usually migrant workers are informed on the rules regarding the minimum salary, while information on other topics, such as social security or health and safety, is weaker. In Poland there is no universally applicable collective agreement for the construction sector. Collective agreements exist in a few bigger construction companies and do not include foreign employees. Highly qualified employees are hired on the basis of separate contracts, while specialists and highly qualified staff are employed by subcontracting companies that are not covered by the agreements or are hired on civil law contracts. Migrant employees usually have no knowledge of collective agreements in the Polish construction sector, as they are not useful to them in any way. Violations regarding salaries are very common and various: violations of the rules concerning minimum wage are the most common but there are also widespread violations of contracts with migrants (often verbal), amounting to 20% of the cases. The huge majority of these violations is done with approval of the migrants (especially if irregular). Violations regarding social security regimes are suffered mostly by regular migrants. Employers generally minimalize expenses on this account with acceptance of the employees. In the case of irregular migrants social security is of course not paid at all. Violations in the field of working time are also extremely common, in particular with regard to irregular migrants, who often work for longer periods of time than 8 hours (even up to 11 12) and have no set breaks. Work time violations also occur in cases of employees working on the basis of a working permit. In bigger companies those violations are less common. Very often migrant workers are exposed to risks in the fields of health and safety especially in relation with protective equipment, load standards, staff training and small, private building sites. Finally, Irregular migrants are frequently employed below their level of qualification. In cases of regular migrants (specialists and qualified employees) the employer is not 38 Strengthening social inclusion - POLAND

39 interested in the formal level education (because it is impossible to assess the authenticity and the value of certificates in cases of third countries) but only in practical skills for the given workplace. In general, complaints from migrant workers are very rare. They rarely check in with unions because they are convinced that unions cannot help them nor represent them. They also rarely report to authorities and the only public institution they report complaints to is the National Labour Inspectorate. Those complaints occur during or as results of inspections. Most often however, when the employer does not pay any compensation and there is no hope of recovering them. NLI, as the institution responsible for control over the legality of employment, only recorded about 20 cases of complaints filed by migrants in Occasionally there are complaints filed with the police. Sanctions are ineffective, because the legal system is inconsistent. There is a lack of information exchange between institutions responsible for different aspects of migrant employment. In particular, a lack of cooperation between the National Labour Inspectorate, the Social Insurance Institution (public insurance institution) and the fiscal services (tax offices). The height of administrative penalties (NLI) is low and eventual lawsuits are remitted (after the departure of migrants concerned or after the investment is finished). There are inadequate human resources in the controlling institutions (NLI). C. Role and activities of the trade unions Poland is mainly a sending country of workers abroad. Therefore the main concern of the trade unions is to provide information and assistance to Polish workers, who are going to be posted or sent abroad. With this aim for 4 years, on the basis of a bilateral agreement between Trade Union Budowlani and the German construction trade union IG-Bau, an information office for migrant employees was activated in the headquarters or National Management of Budowlani. Unfortunately the experience was unsuccessful, because of the very limited participation from the migrants. Currently Budowlani trade union deals with issues of migration with a focus on cooperation with the trade unions of countries to which Polish migrants are migrating and on the activities undertaken in cooperation with EFBWW, and also by means of the activities in the European structures (representation in the EU Advisory Committee on the Free Movement of Workers and the ETUC Migration and Integration Group) and projects specifically aimed to migrant workers. There is one employee in the central office of Budowlani who deals with problems of temporary emigrants as part of his duties. Budowlani Trade Union has the policy of giving precedence to funding addressed to migrants amongst others. Most of these projects in the past years and now are devoted to problems with training and validation of qualifications for migrants (such as APL -Bud Leonardo da Vinci project), integration of migrants (INTI-INSIDE), delegating of employees (INTEPF). Other investments are tied to participation in actions co- Strengthening social inclusion - POLAND 39

40 organized with EFBWW, labor costs and costs of participation in conferences and seminars as well as partially websites. Occasionally, legal aid is also granted to workers. In Poland, there is no coherent system of information about migrant employment. The data is fragmented and there are no fully reliable statistics with regard to migrant employment (those leaving Poland and those coming to Poland). The fundamental problems are a lack of coordination of work between the relevant actors, and a lack of information exchange between the institutions responsible for migration issues. There is very limited interest in migration topics on the part of construction employers organizations. The only exception is the Chamber of Polish Employers ( which is registered as an employers organization, but is in reality an institution helping polish companies delegating employees in bypassing legislation of the host country (labor law, tax, etc.). It is difficult to estimate which percentage of migrant workers is known to the trade unions. Contacts with migrant workers (mainly from third countries) in the workplace are upheld by company (basic) trade unions. The role of the central union is to provide assistance in conflict situations when necessary. Moreover, the vast majority of migrant workers from third countries work in small construction and renovation businesses, where there are no trade union organizations. In practice, there is no contact with these employees. No institution in Poland holds reliable data on temporary migrant workers. It can be estimated that union structures come into contact (in the workplace) with approximately 30% of temporary migrant workers. A Polish Migrant Association (in cooperation with EMWU office in Poland) exists in Poland. This organization is focusing on helping employees going abroad. Foundation Nasz Wybór ( helps Ukrainian migrants. There are many organizations helping refugees and indirectly migrants, there are associations of national characteristics. However, in Poland there is no organized network helping migrants from other countries on the issues linked to employment and working conditions. The main public institution that can assist in legal and organizational (legal instrument) matters is the National Labour Inspectorate. Migrants, however, rarely ask NLI for help it is a matter of lack of trust for public institutions that also perform control functions. In Budowlani trade union made contact with informal networks of Ukrainian migrants. Migrant employees from third countries however are usually not interested in Polish trade union membership. The Polish Act on Unions prevents effective protection of employees not affiliated with primary organizations. Creation of such organization in a small company is impossible due to formal reasons. There is no problem linked with language barriers when dealing with employees from Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova or Russia, as well as workers from EU member states (Slovakia, Lithuania). There is in fact a barrier when dealing with employees from Romania, Turkey and the Far East. Due to a limited knowledge of English and German among Polish employees there are language barriers when they are working with posted employees from other European countries, and integration is often difficult. 40 Strengthening social inclusion - POLAND

41 The INTI-INSIDE project prepared a series of brochures in native languages of migrant workers (Turkish, Russian, Serbian, Croatian). Information for migrant employees leaving Poland are available at the ECMIN project website ( and for employees delegated to Poland on the website ( where a report in English and Polish was prepared by a Budowlani trade union representative. The union contacts employees migrating from Poland mainly through its own structure, and through bilateral contacts with a number of western and northern European trade unions. No cooperation in this field exists with unions of third countries. Polish trade unions (except for transport unions) carry out limited promotion and information activities addressed to migrant employees. Active in this field are the foreign departments of OPZZ and Solidarnosc. However there is no information material for migrants in their national languages. Cooperation between trade unions in the field of migration takes place within the industry federations (EFBWW) and on the basis of bilateral agreements. Budowlani trade union has several agreements with the unions of Western and Northern Europe and Lithuania. Implementation of these agreements is however very limited. Not a big number of Polish employees posted to work abroad are members of the Budowlani trade union (those who are, were members of the union before departing). An attempt to recruit migrants from third countries (mainly Ukrainians working in the Polish construction industry) into the organization in failed. Members of unions from other EU countries posted to Poland do not approach Polish trade unions (neither Budowlani nor Solidarnosc). At the moment Budowlani trade union has no foreign members who are migration employees. Budowlani attempted recruitment of migrant employees (mainly Polish migrants traveling abroad) but these attempts were mostly unsuccessful. Taking over Polish members of other unions returning to the country has proven futile. None of the Polish trade unions have a comprehensive recruitment and organization plan for migrating employees (not only in construction sector). Trust in Polish trade unions is very limited among migrants and just occasionally Polish migrants abroad ask for help (both members and non-members of the union). It happens very rarely with foreign citizens working in Poland. This is mainly due to a lack of trust in the effectiveness of help from the trade unions. A vast majority of migrants does not have any relation with the unions and looks for support, assistance and information, if necessary, through informal networks of compatriots. When migrants address the unions, it is mainly for matters relating to non-paid wages. Requests mostly relate to legal aid and intervention. In accordance with the established procedure a legal analysis is conducted for each case. The first stage is attempting to mediate with the employer, but the percentages of success are very low. In case of non-payment of wages the normal procedure is to notify the Regional Labour Inspectorate and the next step is the National Labour Inspectorate, which makes such interventions within its competences with a varying degree of success and informs the union of any outcomes. NLI cannot intervene in matters relating to taxes or employees social services. Strengthening social inclusion - POLAND 41

42 The effectiveness of such interventions is high if the employer is stably present on the Polish labour market. In case of transnational companies leaving Poland before the procedure is finished, the effectiveness of such intervention is virtually nonexistent. The only reliable source of information exchange on social welfare payments for posted workers is the IMI system. From the NLI information however it appears that this information channel is not always effective. In the Polish case, social insurance is a responsibility of the Social Security establishment. The cooperation of this institution with trade unions in Poland is highly limited (due to ZUS). Given the very small numbers of cases presented to the trade unions, it is difficult to determine the effectiveness of the complaint procedures. About half of the requests and union interventions end with at least a partial solution to the problem. Most of those requests are of an individual character. Unfortunately, very few migrant workers remain in contact with the trade union when their case comes to a conclusion. Finally, Budowlani has a cooperation agreement with two unions from migrant origin countries. One agreement was concluded with one of the Ukrainian unions and concentrates mainly around legal assistance to the members of this union who work in Poland. An agreement was also signed with the Lithuanian construction sector, but it covers the migrant issue only to some extent. Budowlani also entered into several agreements with the countries of destination of Polish workers. The first one was with the Danish BAT-Kartellet, and the second with the German IG-Bau. 42 Strengthening social inclusion - POLAND

43 1.8 National Report SPAIN A. Facts and figures related to temporary migrant workers within the Spanish Wood and Construction Sectors Official data report that in 2012 there were 156,340 foreign workers employed within the construction sector in Spain, 11,098 in the wood sector and 5,592 in the production of building materials, for a total of 173,030 workers. NATIONALITIES CONSTRUCTION SECTOR Bulgaria 2,9% Poland 3,3% Portugal 9,8% Romania 25,6% Morocco 13,1% Colombia 6,7% Ecuador 9,6% Peru 2,6% Others 26,5% TOTAL 100% Source: EAPS and MCA-UGT. NATIONALITIES BUILDING MATERIALS Bulgaria 20,4% Portugal 4,3% Romania 58,8% Serbia 5,8% Morocco 8,9% Cuba 1,8% TOTAL 100,0% Source: EAPS and MCA-UGT. NATIONALITIES WOOD SECTOR Portugal 4,2% Romania 39,0% Morocco 8,5% Mauritania 2,1% Nigeria 6,2% Argentina 16,8% Ecuador 19,3% Paraguay 3,8% TOTAL 100,0% Source: EAPS and MCA-UGT. The majority of these workers are Romanian (25,6% within the construction sector, 39% in the wood sector, 58,8 within the building materials). Bulgarian and Portuguese workers are usual migrants from the EU, while from third-countries the most represented nationalities are Moroccan and Latin Americans (Ecuadorean, Colombian). Despite the regulation which imposes the company to notify the authorities of all the postings, there are no official statistics. Anyway in ,304 A1 certificates were issued for workers with Spain as destination country. This number includes all sectors, but with a rough estimation we can suppose that approximately half of them were workers in the construction industry. 80/90% of the building sites in Spain employ workers from more than one nationality. Self-employed foreign workers within the construction industry are with 28,691. There are no reliable data on the frequency and size of subcontracting, but in Spain subcontracting in the construction industry is limited by law to three levels. Strengthening social inclusion - SPAIN 43

44 B. Working conditions and forms of abuse and exploitation Between the second quarter of 2008 and the second quarter of 2012 construction and wood sectors in Spain have lost approximately 465,000 foreign workers. Such a dramatic sectoral crisis has of course had significant consequences on migration flows and migrant workers living and working conditions. A very high percentage of migrant workers have not been able to renew their work and residency permits and now survive in an irregular situation. Many others (mainly of Latin American origin) have returned to their home countries taking advantage of the economic and social recovery in some countries. It is the case, for example, of many Ecuadorians, Peruvians and Colombians. Other workers have been able to obtain the Spanish nationality (2 years of legal residence for Latin American citizens) and can move freely between their country of origin, Spain and within the Schengen area. Many migrant workers from Eastern Europe and new EU member states have moved to other Western EU countries where the labour market is in a better condition. Obviously the foreigners in an irregular situation survive within the underground economy performing all kinds of tasks: small reforms, masonry work, plumbing, maintenance of buildings, etc. Citizens who have decided to return to their countries have benefited from return programs financed by the Spanish Government. As for citizens with dual nationality or EU origin, they keep living in Spain and working as Spanish citizens or move to other countries with better employment options pursuant to the freedom of movement of EU citizens. For the workers who remain in Spain we find different possibilities: Workers who have changed their sector: agriculture, trade etc. Workers who have become self-employed. Workers who have become economically dependent self-employed worker. 44 Strengthening social inclusion - SPAIN

45 C. Trade unions role and structure UGT has two mechanisms for attention to foreign workers. A system specialized in immigration law that depends on the Confederation Executive Committee and a system specialized in labour matters which unfolds through the federations of UGT, in this case MCA-UGT. The coordination between confederal and federal level is crucial for the effectiveness of the trade union policies in this field. Attention to workers on immigration issues It develops through the information and social guidance centres for immigrants, dependent of UGT Confederation Executive Committee. Information and guidance centres are a free service of UGT whose objective is to advise, accompany, process, and intermediating in many matters that a foreign worker may need. Legal service includes information, advice and realization of procedures but not legal representation. In particular they deal with authorizations of work and residence, visa and family reunification, employment and housing, health care, administrative appeals, information about immigration laws. The immigration services of UGT are also actively involved in initiatives in support of the immigrant community, as social awareness campaigns, information campaigns to public administrations, social centres and other organizations, training courses for immigrants, prevention campaigns against racist and xenophobic attitudes in schools and colleges, meetings and intercultural workshops, talks and informational meetings for immigrants, employers and general public, negotiations at the political level to improve the conditions of the immigrants. The centres also provide other services of UGT, as job opportunities, free courses, occupational health, etc. Attention to workers on labour issues. UGT federations provide for national and migrant workers in their sectors the following services: information on collective agreements and applicable regulations, information on labour rights, legal advice, occupational training, information on occupational health, information and counselling on conciliation of professional and personal life, information and advice on equality of opportunity and treatment. In the case of MCA-UGT these services are provided to workers in the sectors of metal, construction, wood, furniture and related industries. Advantages and disadvantages of this dual system for migrant workers are: Strengthening social inclusion - SPAIN 45