Byggnads (the Swedish Building Workers’ Union) placed a Latvian company, Laval Un Partneri in Vaxholm just outside Stockholm, under a boycott in November 2004. Eight other Swedish trade unions expressed their sympathies with Byggnads by also taking industrial action against the company.
Byggnads is not working against the Latvian workers or any other workers from other countries either. What we did was to start a boycott against the Latvian company because they have refused to conclude a collective agreement with us. According to Swedish law, trade unions have the right to take industrial action against companies who refuse to conclude a collective agreement. We want the Latvian workers to have the same rights as Swedish building workers.
The Latvian workers did not return after the New Year holiday. In february the company chosed to brake up the agreement they had with the local authority in Vaxholm (who placed the order). Byggnads regret that they chosed this way instead of concluding a Swedish collective agreement, which would have given the Latvian workers the same rights as Swedish building workers.
Facts and statements from Byggnads (Swedish Building Workers’ Unions)
• Byggnads welcomes all construction workers who come to Sweden. However, we want everyone to work under the same conditions. For us it is only natural that everyone at a workplace is treated equally and that laws and agreements are complied with.
• According to the EU Posting Directive, it is the labour market regulations and legislation of the host country (i.e. the country you go to work in) that apply.
• Collective agreements lead to fair conditions without unfair competition and without the exploitation of workers. Collective agreements do not only regulate pay but also stipulate other conditions such as working hours and the working environment.
• Byggnads is not working against the Latvian construction workers in Vaxholm or any other foreign construction workers either. However, what Byggnads has done is to put the Latvian company under a blockade since they have refused to conclude a collective agreement.
• According to the Swedish constitution, trade unions may take industrial action against companies that refuse to conclude a collective agreement.
• Byggnads concludes approx. 1 500 local collective agreements every year. In 2004, 98 local agreements were concluded with foreign companies. In the same year, Byggnads also took industrial action against 21 companies which refused to conclude a collective agreement. Nine of these were foreign companies.
• According to an LO (the Swedish Trade Union Confederation) report, foreign labour is greatly over represented in fatal industrial accidents. Last year ten percent of all fatal accidents involved foreign workers. Foreign workers, however, did not even make up one percent of the employees.
• There is a risk that irresponsible companies offer cheap foreign labour at the cost of security and the working environment. In order to avoid this it is important that the host country’s regulations apply without exception (the Posting Directive).
• The issue of a well-organised labour market is not just about the dumping of wages, social dumping or the exploitation of labour. It is also about unfair competition from companies. The employer organisations have not said a word about this. Usually they are quite happy to talk about how important it is to ensure that there are good opportunities for small companies. In this matter they have, however, remained silent. This is despite the fact that it is a matter of unfair competition which may eventually force small serious Swedish companies (many of their own member organisations) to fiddle and circumvent the rules in order to fight off the competition, the alternative being to close shop altogether.
• Representatives for small companies should demand more order on the labour market. Competition under fair and equal conditions is a prerequisite if Swedish companies and the Swedish labour market are to evolve.
• Local authorities are being short-termist when they subcontract work to companies that neither pay tax nor contribute in any other way to better welfare in Sweden; all because they accept the lowest offer without having checked the company properly.
• We want everyone to have decent and fair conditions – regardless of whether they are Swedish or come from abroad or whether they work in Sweden or elsewhere.
• Byggnads and the entire trade union movement works internationally to help workers in other countries establish well-functioning trade unions so that their working conditions improve. Trade union rights are synonymous with human rights.