Text 18862, 89 rader
Skriven 2005-12-17 14:14:00 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
  Kommentar till text 18780 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
Ärende: help needed
===================
Helo Ward,

>> Are you sure you aren't mixed up with these Polish truck drivers who work
>> below the wages negotated by the Dutch unions?

 > No, no ... it has been a full-scandal here perhaps about a
 > month ago when a meat-processing plant for "economic reasons"
 > laid-off more than 50% of its staff and they were the same day
 > replaced by Polish workers hired via a Dutch mailbox-company.

And the guys that were fired didn't go for unlawful dismissal?

 > They were getting slightly above Polish wages, which was good
 > for them, but way below negotiated wages in the Netherlands
 > and Belgium.

If it was below negotiated wages, it couls still be minimum wage.

 > This scam has happened a couple of times already and always it
 > is via a Dutch "recruiting agency".

Not nice. Definitely not nice....

 > Since wages have been negotiated for all sectors here, as it
 > is I guess in any civilised country,

Same here. Very few people actually work for the minimim wage. Most negotiated
wages are substantially higher.

 > unions complained about this.

Justifyably so. We have employment protection. You can't fire someone just
because you can get someone else to do it for less. Our friens "across" will
probably yell "socialist paradise" but that's the way it is.

 > The company was blocked with a worker lock-out and the
 > Poles were sent home while the original workers were re-hired.

Tough luck for the Poles, but it is justice served....

 > This unfortunately is not the end of the story. I sympathise
 > with these Polish workers who don't want to cheat anyone, have
 > nothing but good comments as they're good workers and they
 > only want to improve their personal situation.

Of course.

And in the end they will. And then the situation will even out again as it will
become normal that they earn much higher wages in their own country than they
do now.

 > What is going to create an immense problem starting 2007 is
 > that workers from the last 10 countries joining the EU will
 > enjoy the same privileges and there will be a mass-migration
 > from these countries to the west of people willing to work at
 > inferior wages. This is not what the EU is about but what our
 > esteemed politicians have achieved with the stupid last
 > enlargement of the union.

Indeed. It all went MUCH too fast. In their eagerness to "award" these
countries for their freeing from communist regimes they ignored the imbalance
it creates.

 > And now that Turkey is knocking at the door with another
 > 70 million people eager to move west...

I am not so sure if that is what they really want. Like you I have strong
reservations about Turkey. But mostly for cultural reasons. I simple think they
do not fit in. Not all that long ago the EU had to exert pressure on Turkey to
not adopt a law that allows man to beat their wife. A country that needs
outside pressure to not allow beating women is just not ready to mix with our
culture and the won't be for at least another generation.

Freedom of speech appears to be a problem too in Turkey.

>> The wages negotiated by the trucker unions are sunbstantially
>> higher than the minimum wage.

 > But the Polish truckers nevertheless cannot afford a decent
 > meal, have to put in more hours and are involved in a lot more
 > accidents owing to fatigue.

More hours? How can that be? They are subject to the laws limiting the hours a
truck driver may make aren't they?

Cheers, Michiel

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