EU Law: Unions continue public contracts push

ETUC's Gen Sec again calls for limiting public contracts to companies with collective agreements, potentially excluding majority of EU businesses from tendering.

Key points: ETUC Gen Sec Esther Lynch is again calling for limiting public contracts to companies with collective agreements. This could potentially exclude the majority of EU businesses from tendering for public contracts.

Why this matters:  Such a condition in public sector contracts could potentially exclude the majority on EU-based undertakings from tendering for public sector contracts as they have neither unions nor collective agreements.  In many cases, the workers in such undertakings are not interested in union membership. As the unions would see it, such workers do not know what is good for them and collective bargaining agreements should be imposed on them whether they want them or not.

What might happen next: The EU Commission has said that it will update the Public Procurements Directives shortly. Member companies should ensure that their government relations departments monitor developments carefully to ensure that any proposed changes are balanced and proportionate. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Quote from Esther Lynch speech:

Since the EU elections, there have been two major developments. Firstly, the Commission has promised to open up the Public Procurement Directives. Secondly, the mantra in Brussels is simplification, it has an evil twin, deregulation. But simplification can help us in this circumstance. The beauty of our solution is that it is incredibly simple, companies who have a collective agreement should win contracts over those who do not. 

You can read Esther Lynch’s speech here.