Swedish workers’ Union got a smoking gun in the argument of cheap Polish workers in the construction sector
Wednesday, 14 August 2013
The argument has been that most eastern European workers employed in
various Swedish construction sites has been mainly driven by the
argument put forward by Swedish employers in the sector that Swedish
unemployed are either lazy to take the jobs available and Swedish
jobseekers lack the skills compared to their counterparts in Eastern
Europe.
The various Swedish workers’ Unions have been arguing that many Swedish
employers are favouring Eastern Europeans because they are cheaper than
Swedish professionals are. Employers have all through insisted that
they could not get the right skills when ever they needed them.
Nevertheless, today the Union has mad a discovery that could change the
argument.
Polish workers working in a constrction site in Stockholm / image SVT
Swedish television has shown footage and a report that a Stockholm city
based construction site being renovated by the City of Stockholm
ferried in Polish workers who are being paid very low wages and are
crammed into a house at the construction site.
It occurred in Råcksta in western Stockholm were there is a renovation
of the municipal parking garage. When an official of the workers Union
for the building construction sectors made a spontaneous inspection of
the building site it turns out that Polish construction workers were
living on site in boxes, something that is against the rules. Workers
are not supposed to lives at work site and the fact that they earn
Skr35 per hour, one-fifth of agreed salary of the sector made their
finding even more interesting.
It is argued that after the Stockholm municipal parking management gave
the job to a German company, Züblin, it placed two subcontractors
to carry out the job, something which the Stockholm parking management
was not aware of.
Polish workers living quater which the workers Union feels is illegal / image SVT
“We have very serious questions to ask the main contractor Züblin,”
said Fredrik Soderholm, of Stockholm parking to Swedish television.
According t the workers Union, it is not unusual for the state or a
municipality to place orders for contracts where wages are then dumped
near the bottom of a chain of contractors, and that despite their
primary responsibility; they turn and blame the contractor.
No one is saying that EU workers who have the right to work in Sweden
are not welcome here but the Union wants a level playing field. The
Eastern European should not be exploited because they come from
countries where salaries are generally lower and unemployment in high.
Of course if they get a job in Sweden and are paid in relation to
Swedish workers and according to the rules, no one will question their
presence.
But if the are paid very low as shown today, the Union believe thus
that their presence here is just because they are cheap and are here to
undercut the Swedish workers. This is not acceptable and if the
government which is fighting to cut down unemployment and reduce the
benefit bills tend to give contracts to companies that employ cheap
labour from abroad, the question will be what strategy is the
government placing to reduce unemployment in Sweden.
Swedish unemployment now stands at 9.1 percent or the workforce and the workers in the construction sector are the highest hit.
By Scancomark.com Team
