Activities of Jutta STEINRUCK related to 2015/2233(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Negotiations for the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) (debate) DE
Amendments (12)
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls for all ILO core labour standards to be a compulsory and enforceable element of EU trade agreements such as TiSA from the outset;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Stresses that increasing mobility must be accompanied by high and binding social and labour standards so as to ensure that workers are protected against exploitation and social dumping; stresses furthermore in this regard the importance of sufficient control and enforcement mechanisms;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Considers that any future agreement on trade in services must include a clause on control and enforcement mechanisms so as to deter and prevent companies from infringing labour and social rights, including collective agreements; is particularly concerned about the effects of complex cross-border subcontracting chains through which it becomes very difficult to ensure and monitor compliance; calls therefore on the Commission to propose EU legislation ensuring liability in sub-contracting chains, and considers that such liability must also apply and be enforceable on companies from third-countries; points out in this regard that the principle of equal remuneration for equal work at the same workplace should be enshrined in EU law and underlines that labour inspectorates and trade unions have a vital role to play in the prevention and monitoring of abuse and also help to enhance expertise and information provision at company level; urges the Member States to increase the staffing levels of, and the resources available to, their labour inspectorates and to meet the target of one inspector for every 10 000 workers, as recommended by the ILO, as well as to impose more severe penalties on firms that fail to comply with their obligations concerning fundamental rights (including remuneration, working hours and OHS); considers that the penalties in such cases must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Deplores the decline in funding for labour inspection and the inadequacy of cross-border access to data within the EU; is concerned about the consequences this inadequacy and decline might have with regards to further liberalisation of the trade in services through TiSA; highlights that labour inspections in particular face challenges in monitoring companies where migrant workers and posted workers from the EU and third countries are employed; stresses that, for labour inspections to be effective, it is important that they are sufficiently aware of situations with a high risk of non- compliance; points out that national-level electronic systems for the compulsory advance registration of foreign workers by employers could substantially facilitate the task of labour inspection;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls for the positive list principle to be applied both to market access and to national treatment;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Maintains in addition that neither ratchet nor standstill clauses should be applicable to market access or national treatment obligations;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Stresses, in order to avoid unfair competition, social dumping and exploitation of workers, that the principle of equal remuneration for equal work is enshrined in EU law and respected in all of the trade agreements signed by the EU; underlines that all workers, irrespective of their home country must, as a minimum, enjoy the same rights, conditions of employment and salaries as nationals in the place of work; stresses that this principle be included through a protection clause for deployed workers in any future agreement on trade in services;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Considers that any future agreement on trade in services must include a clause preventing companies from circumventing or undermining the right to take industrial action, through the use of workers from third countries during negotiations on collective agreements and labour disputes;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that the right of the State to organise and regulate the provision of services, taking account of social and environmental criteria as well as the public interest, must be retained in full, and calls for services of general interest to be excluded from the agreement, irrespective of whether they are provided privately or publicly, on the understanding that each party should itself determine which services are to be defined as services of general interest; believes that, within the EU, the definitions should be determined by each Member State individually, in cooperation with subnational authorities;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Considers that the EU should make very limited commitments as to any future provisions through the current Mode 1 of the GATS, so as not to undermine the high working standards and conditions in the EU through the provisions of services being supplied from third countries, particularly concerning the ICT sector;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Considers furthermore that the EU-wide posting of workers should not be regulated in trade agreements; considers however that, as a minimum, the Directive 96/71/EC on the posting of workers, together with other national and EU labour and social legislation as well as collective agreements, should be applicable to contractual service suppliers and business sellers accessing the EU, today and in the future, through the Mode 4 provisions in GATS;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for the immediate publication of all documents relevant to TiSA, and urges that the European social partners and civil society be permitted to participate transparently and actively in the negotiating process.