Last Friday, 14^th March, the European social partners of the construction industry – European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) and European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC) – invited the European Commission Executive Vice-President (EVP) for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness, Roxana Mînzatu, to a joint visit to the “Oosterweel project” in Antwerp, Belgium. Also, the Belgian sectoral social partners, CG FGTB, ACV-BIE and Embuild, were present.

The main aim of the visit was to raise awareness about the reality of a construction worksite with all its complexity (coordination between the various actors, safety of the workers, technical and logistical issues, cooperation between workers from different nationalities, etc.).

During the visit, trade unions, employers and the Commission discussed the attractiveness of the construction sector, skills, safety, labour shortages and quality jobs. The participants were able to see good practices in place, such as social ID cards and the impact of limits on subcontracting as applied in Belgium. They also had the opportunity to exchange with construction workers and to hear their testimonies about the unique characteristics of the sector and their work.

EFBWW and FIEC stressed their joint compromise in promoting fair competition and providing good working conditions, such as fair wages, equal treatment, training opportunities, and avoiding long subcontracting chains.  

As the European Commission is preparing its Quality Jobs Roadmap, EFBWW and FIEC call on EVP Mînzatu to support the sectoral social dialogue and work closely together with the sectoral social partners on all these topics.

EVP, Roxana Mînzatu: “My ambition is to launch a labour mobility package which can address the needs of workers and businesses. This will include four main pillars: strengthening the European Labour Authority, digitalisation, posting of workers from third countries, and sub-contracting. On this topic, I want to actively engage with Member States and social partners to secure workers’ rights in supply chains. Transparency, equal treatment, decent work and effective enforcement should be enhanced throughout sub-contracting chain to fight against social dumping and unfair competition.”

EFBWW President, Bruno Bothua: “The EFBWW calls for a European initiative to increase the fight against social dumping and unfair competition, to limit subcontracting and increase the attractiveness of the sector. More direct jobs is the answer to the Commission’s simplification plans: it would significantly simplify construction site management, benefiting businesses, enforcement authorities and workers alike.”

FIEC President, Piero Petrucco: “It is of key importance that policy makers understand the reality and specificities of our sector, in order to be able to propose an adequate and efficient regulatory framework. We need provisions that take into account the structure of our sector, with a vast majority of SMEs, the flexibility that we need, in order to adapt ourselves to a constantly changing environment and to remain competitive, whilst at the same time ensuring a level playing field and combating fraudulent practices”.

ABOUT FIEC and EFBWW

FIEC (European Construction Industry Federation) represents - via its 32 National member federations in 27 countries (24 EU, Norway, Switzerland & Ukraine) - construction enterprises of all sizes, i.e. small and medium-sized enterprises as well as “global players”, carrying out all forms of building and civil engineering activities. FIEC is also the officially recognised Social Partner, representing employers, in the EU sectoral Social Dialogue for Construction, together with EFBWW.

EFBWW (The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers) represents the trade unions in construction, wood, forestry, and building materials in Europe.

Contacts

• Giulia Garofalo - FIEC Press & Communication Officer: g.garofalo@fiec.eu  +32 (0) 485 601 177
• Paula Cravina de Sousa - EFBWW Communication Officer: pcravina@efbww.eu +32 (0) 473 13 43 49