Earlier this month, the LIBE Committee decided to enter into interinstitutional negotiations on the EU Talent Pool, confirmed by a plenary vote under Rule 71. The Talent Pool aims to create a platform where third-country national workers can apply directly for jobs in the EU, making it easier for companies to recruit workers from outside the bloc.
In March, the Committee adopted its report responding to the European Commission’s original proposal, including amendments to ensure the application of fair recruitment standards, non-discriminatory practices and the pool to be free of charge for registered jobseekers. While supporting the iniciative to create a platform to facilitate the access of migrant workers to the EU labour market, the Dutch Trade Union FNV and LSI are concerned with the risk of exploitation of these workers under the proposed framework.
FNV calls for strict controls to ensure equal treatment of migrant workers compared to non-migrant workers. Employers who do not comply with labour standards should be denied access, especially as FNV sees a large-scale abuse of migrants from third countries, who are recruited in their home country, often misled by false promises, have paid large sums of money as a “recruitment fee” and therefore start their working life in the EU with enormous debts. Many migrant workers recruited from third countries are confronted with incomprehensible employment contracts, opaque deductions from their wages, forced to accept irregular payment, work in precarious jobs, and are forced to live in poor-quality housing, often far away from society.
So far, the Talent Pool does not include any of the demands of the trade union movement. The main means of protection is the exclusion of certain employers from the Talent Pool. Temporary employment agencies and other intermediaries should not have access to the Talent Pool at all. Without these checks and guarantees, the door is wide open for rogue recruitment and employment agencies to bring vulnerable migrant workers from outside the EU here on an even larger scale, in order to then be able to put them to work at unacceptable standards. The combination of insufficient worker protections, continued access for intermediaries, and accelerated immigration procedures could significantly increase the risk of labour exploitation of third-country nationals in the EU.
See more on the Legislative Train Schedule.
The EU must promote clear and enforceable standards to ensure that migrant workers enjoy the same protections as non-migrant workers and that exploitation is avoided.
CopyRight: EURES (EURopean Employment Services)