The Irish Times
May 25, 2005
‘Social dumping’ takes centre stage in French minds
Lara Marlowe in Paris
France: Social dumping – outsourcing to central and eastern Europe,
and the influx of east European workers to France – has become the
most emotional issue of the campaign for the European constitutional
treaty referendum.
A recent poll showed that 55 per cent of salaried French people
believe the European Union threatens their social rights; 53 per cent
think their salaries are in danger; and 51 per cent fear for job
security.
In much the same way that petty crime by young immigrants dominated
the 2002 presidential campaign – and swung the vote rightward –
French fears of competition from cheap east European labour have been
exploited by the No campaign.
Every day brings its harvest of economic horror stories. The fact
that the majority of abuses are illegal under French and European law
does not faze critics of the treaty.
Yesterday Liberation newspaper reported that an internet company is
offering French employees who now earn up to EUR 3,500 per month a
maximum EUR 500 to work in Yerevan, Armenia. Earlier in the campaign
an Alsatian company caused outrage by telling workers they’d have to
move to Romania for EUR 110 a month to keep their jobs.
A Portuguese sub-contractor to France Telecom forced Portuguese
labourers to work 14 hours a day, six days a week. The abuses took
place while Thierry Breton, minister of the economy and finance since
March, was chairman of France Telecom.
In Burgundy, a town whose mayor is campaigning against the treaty
with the socialist No 2, Laurent Fabius, was discovered to have hired
a Czech contractor to refurbish municipal buildings.
The Irish Ferries incident in which passengers were prevented from
disembarking in Cherbourg was interpreted by Liberation as another
symptom of social dumping.
Michel Oury of the CFDT trade union said management tried to replace
Irish employees with Poles and Lithuanians. “Irish sailors cost EUR
15 per hour, whereas sailors from the east cost EUR 4.50,” Mr Oury
explained.
Francois Gaxotte, the head of a small construction company in the
Paris region, estimates that in the past five years east Europeans
have filled 40 per cent of the demand for unqualified labourers,
underselling north African Arabs by working for as little as EUR 40
per day.
The problem, Mr Gaxotte says, is not east Europeans; he’s happy for
them to work in France, under the same conditions enjoyed by French
workers. But the prevalence of black market labour in the
construction industry means they’re easily exploited.
“East Europeans take work from French companies because they use
illegal labour and drive the prices down,” he says. “I sell a day’s
work for EUR 300; they sell it for EUR 50. You can’t find French
workers, and if you do, they want EUR 1,500 a month, which clients
won’t pay for.”
The solution, Mr Gaxotte says, is for the French government to reduce
social charges so that builders can afford to hire workers legally.
Pierre Caquet, a French investment banker based in Prague, admits
that there is “a huge move east” by French and other companies, but
says it is “not so much rebasing as expansion”.
It is “just cheap populism to blame immigrants and outsourcing for
unemployment”, he continues.
“Growth in central and eastern Europe is much higher than in western
Europe. The EU should be thankful it’s got that . . . These are
markets. They’re outlets for a lot of goods. They contribute jobs;
they don’t destroy jobs.”
Mr Caquet believes the roots of chronic 10 per cent unemployment lie
within the French system.
Former French president and architect of the constitutional treaty
Valery Giscard d’Estaing believes outsourcing will taper off as
salaries and social protection rise in the new member countries. The
euro group will impose higher standards for those who want to join
the single currency, he predicts.
Mr Fabius, the arch-opponent of the treaty, visited a car parts
factory in Normandy this week to canvass workers who are anxious at
the arrival of Polish trainees.
The solution, Mr Fabius told them, is a constitution that would
impose high social standards on all members, and tax harmonisation.
“We can’t keep a 30 per cent corporate tax in France when it’s 5 per
cent elsewhere,” he said.