27.09.2017

Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers has opened its Branch Office in Brussels

 

ZPP opened its Branch Office in Brussels on 26 September 2017. Finally, Polish companies of the SME sector can directly monitor their situation in the EU and defend our interests. Polish entrepreneurs face very difficult time. Many changes occurr in the EU’s architecture, and new threats for Polish companies emerge.

The celebration of opening was held in Sofitel Hotel at Place Jourdal. ZPP was represented by: Cezary Kaźmierczak, the president of ZPP, Marcin Nowacki, the vice-president of ZPP, and Agata Boutanos, the Head of the Branch Office of ZPP in Brussels. Among the invited guests, there were: Jarosław Starzyk, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the European Union, and Zdzisław Krasnodębski, Member of the Parliament.

The President of ZPP, Cezary Kaźmierczak noticed “During this time of profound structural changes and discussions over the future of the European market, including labour market, Polish entrepreneurs need to have their hands on in Brussels.”

The main responsibility of the newly created office is to represent the interests of the sector of Polish enterprises. Influencing the shape of the European provisions at the stage of preliminary discussions and not, as it often happened in the past, after approving the stands of other countries should be the priority. ZPP also hopes for close cooperation with other foreign labour organisations in Brussels in order to build strong coalitions.

Within the actions concerning the European Union, ZPP declares:

• constant presence in the dialogue with the stakeholders of the decision-making process,
• support of the ZPP members in fulfilling the European agenda,
• long-lasting positioning and communication,
• organisation of the dedicated events, debates and trainings.

“Polish organisations become a constant element of our diplomacy in Brussels. We count on cooperation with ZPP”, said Jarosław Starzyk, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the European Union.

Small and medium companies have drawn the attention of Polish diplomats and Members of the European Parliament to the necessity of participating in the dialogue with European institutions more actively. Starting today, the Office will actively advocate wider consideration of Polish interests and of interests of Polish economy from the entrepreneurs’ perspective.

As the MP Zdzisław Krasnodębski noticed: “Activity of Polish companies and entrepreneurs in Brussels is vital for building our position in the European Union.”

Agata Boutanos, the Head of the Branch Office of ZPP in Brussels, declares being open to cooperation with all Polish companies and institutions which need support in the European forum.

Our Office in Brussels has been listed on the website of Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union in Brussels: http://bit.ly/2wULTFp

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13.10.2017

ZPP Conference in the European Parliament “Posting workers and Mobility Package – the challenges for enterprises from East-Central Europe”

Revision of the rules regulating posting workers has caused strong political disagreement in the European Union. It concerns the vision of the future of the EU and the deepening differences in functioning in the European market in accordance with the principles of competitiveness.

The data presented during the debate “Posting workers and Mobility Package – the challenges for the enterprises from East-Central Europe” organised in Brussels by the Members of The European Parliament: professor Zdzisław Krasnodębski and Angel Djambazki in cooperation with ZPP, contradict the often-used arguments of unfair competitiveness and lowering wages by companies from the region of East-Central Europe.

The results of the research carried out by Bruegel Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael and experts from the Labour Mobility Initiative deflate the political reports about social dumping and unfair competitiveness of East-Central European countries.

Zsolt Darvas from Bruegel – the Brussels-based economic think tank – noticed: “Posted workers constitute a small percentage of all of the participants of the labour market in the European Union. Only a minor part of them come from East Europe. The issue of grey zone in the labour market is much more vital.”

 

                                          

Chart: Posting workers according to the wage ranges in 2015. Percentage share in relation to particular countries.

Zsolt Darvas has also emphasised that import of goods, offshoring and labour mobility have much stronger impact on the work places, wages and social conditions in the countries with high wages. If the “the same wage in the same place” resolution is to be introduced, the next step should comprise implementing tariff on goods brought from the EU countries with lower wages, and establishing barriers for the lower-wages countries in offshoring production in the EU countries.

PhD Marcin Kiełbasa from Labour Mobility Initiative agrees with the Bruegel expert. He also highlights that separating facts from fiction and introducing legislative initiatives which would really ensure proper functioning of the European labour market should be the priorities. Posted workers do not take away work places because of lower costs of their work but due to the competitiveness of their services. Also the argument of social dumping is wrong. It is clearly proved in the research of PhD Marek Benio – costs of posting work to the receiving country are higher by even 29% than in the sending country.

Emma Hadrovic from the Danish Road Freight Organisation ITD presented examples from the transport industry. She debunked another myth – posting workers isn’t a challenge only for entrepreneurs and employers from East-Central Europe but for all entrepreneurs providing service in the European Union. The main challenges concerning the changes proposed by the European Commission highlighted by the Danish Organisation were: maintaining the principle of proportionality in legislation, counterproductive and not transparent regulations usage of which would not ameliorate the market; quite the contrary – it would stop its foregoing effective functioning at the same time lowering the competitiveness of European enterprises in the global market.

18.10.2017

Report of WEI: Ukrainian immigration in Poland in the context of the labour market situation

 

Currently, Europe faces enormous demographic challenges. Birth rates of any of the European countries don’t sustain generation replacement. A very logical conclusion derives from this fact – Europe will gradually depopulate in the coming years. It also concerns Poland where this problem is especially intensified and visible and might have numerous negative outcomes.

Warsaw Enterprise Institute in cooperation with Kolegium Europy Wschodniej prepared the Report “Ukrainian immigration in Poland. Analysis of the phenomenon in the context of the labour market situation”. The research investigated the phenomenon of immigration and its influence on the situation in the labour market. Current political and economic situation has opened for Poland a source of immigrants willing to take up work and, due to the cultural similarities, adapting to our environment very easily. They are the immigrants from Ukraine who come to Poland in great numbers. This is caused by both: the economic and the political reasons. Their number in Poland has been estimated to about one million but taking all the probability and analyses of the readiness of employing foreigners into account, we should consider even higher figures. Ukrainians work hard and they earn enough money not only to support themselves, but also to spend it on consumption.

Unfortunately, Poland has obviously missed its great chance pending till 2017. For the Ukrainians, Poland – geographically and culturally close, and much more economically developed – was the natural first-choice country at the time when they were obliged to have visas to travel to the European Union. Regrettably, the decision-makers did not manage to establish a uniform policy on the absorption of immigrants. They forgot that the “flow capacity” of a country’s administrative and bureaucratic system is crucial during such a serious crisis and such a big group of people willing to immigrate and work. The historical chance has been thrown away. The only thing we can do today is to try to compete with the West European countries and other countries of our region. It is indispensable, to maintain the increasing tendency of the Ukrainian immigration to Poland.

Taking this into account Warsaw Enterprise Institute proposes maximal simplification of the procedures concerning legalisation of labour performed by the Ukrainians in Poland, and restraining from introducing legislative changes hampering their employment. Moreover, we recommend introduction of a wide abolition encompassing all of the Ukrainians currently working in Poland – a significant part of them is being employed illegally at the moment. We also propose the employment bureaus to take responsibility of some of the initiatives to match the employers and entrepreneurs with employees from Ukraine who wish to relocate to Poland. Ukraińcami Such solution seems to be very much needed in the context of the current situation in the labour market.


Report of WEI: Ukrainian immigration in Poland in the context of the labour market situation

Brussels, 24 October 2017

 

Luxembourg, Ministers of Labour have reached a consensus on the issue of posted workers

 

In Luxembourg, a common stand – the so called General Approach – of the European Council concerning the revision of the Posted Workers Directive has been achieved during the meeting of the Ministers of Management under the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO). New rules of posting employees in the transport industry will be synchronised with Lex Specialis and shall be introduced together with the regulation concerning this industry. Until such regulation is prepared, the existing provisions of the Directive from 1996 are binding.

During the meeting in Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania and Latvia voted against the revision of the Posted Workers Directive. Great Britain, Ireland and Croatia abstained from voting. Representatives of Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia supported by Spain and Portugal advocated excluding transport industry from the revision.

Finally, just before midnight, the consensus was achieved. It comprises long-term posting of workers for 12 months with a possibility of prolonging it for a company’s request by another 6 months. The 12-months period was proposed by France. Later, a possibility of prolonging it to 18 months was added. There will be a 4-year-long transition period – 3 years of exposition and 1 year of application. The yesterday’s agreement on the Council’s stand opens the door for further negotiations with the European Parliament and to reaching a final agreement.

Currently, there are 3 liberties in the common European market – flow of labour, capital and goods. This shows that the free market exists only there, where it is the “Old Union” who profits. Only the 4th liberty – flow of services – doesn’t work because it is favourable for us and the Central-East Europe – stated Cezary Kaźmierczak, the President of ZPP.

For the moment, the revision of the Posted Workers Directive does not concern the transport industry, for which regulations will be specified in a separate Lex Specialis. The Parliament is supposed to start works over the regulations in the transport industry by the end of this year.

Postponing works over regulations in the transport services industry is a good information for Polish companies from the sector. However, we believe that this matter should not be considered on the European level at all. It interferes with the principle of free competition among entities from different countries – said Marcin Nowacki, the vice-President of ZPP. – We do not agree that the rule of “the same wage for the same work” should apply to the service sector. Posted Workers Directive is an example of such a regulation.

We are against restrictions in the transport industry. On the other hand, some of the Member countries, especially France, even now hamper entering companies providing services, including transport companies, to their markets. It is obviously contradictory to the European provisions regulating access to those markets – added a ZPP expert.

Last week, the Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Commission of the European Parliament adopted a proposal of a posting time of 24 months. The same week, on Thursday, after the meeting of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy with French President Emanuel Macron, the French proposition for the duration of posting of workers, presented in Luxembourg, was 12 months. Proposition of Estonian President presented at EPSCO was 20 months, which was later changed into 18 months with a 4-year-long transition period.

Another meeting of the leaders of the Member Countries concerning the social affairs is planned for 17 November in Gothenburg. The meeting will not focus on posted workers, it will concentrate on the employment market, social rights and, most importantly, on regulations concerning the heavy commercial vehicles drivers travelling between the Member Countries.