Jens Borking

Speak in Åboe Finland 9/5 2003

If solidarity among the workers all over, was a question about being poor, unemployed and so on at the same bad level, there is no doubt in my mind. The employers would support solidarity among workers all over the world.

When the EU system is very concerned on the matter of the free movement of working people or the work-forces as the well paid EU-men prefers to call human beings on low wages... It is not because of the concern of the freedom to travel, to look around to exchanges knowledge.

We are not talking about some travel agency.

People in power from big business want to have labour forces available where and when they need it and to a price as low as possible.

The fans of the (for some) free market wants the competition between employees in all terms. Even when you talk about co-operation between people they should compete about who's the best. It's in raw and short terms, and short time we have. This is the way to characterise some very important characteristic about the free market people in a primitive way, but they are pretty primitive when you take away all the beautiful words about personal freedom, flexibility, and the beauty of the jungellaws.

We're facing even in the relative welty Denmark a growing pressure on af stabile and well-organised system of agreements on the labour marked.

I'm from the building sector i Copenhagen but we are not the only ones facing problems with EU and not EU members who because of unemployment poverty and bad conditions in their homelands travel to Denmark with there Employers to work in Denmark on conditions who are much worse than our normal conditions according to our agreements with the Employers organisations or directly agreements.

Normal salary among carpenters of Copenhagen between 130 to 200 DKr.!
Czech's: 42!
Italian's: 50 to 70 DKr.
British's: 40 to 50 DKr.
German's: 75 to 85 DKr.
Swedish's: 100 to 105 DKr.
Polish's: 30 to 40 DKr.
Lithuanians, Litters and Estonians: 30 to 50 DKr.

Some 12 years ago we had about 2 to 4 cases pr. year where we met badly paid and bad treated building-workers. Now it happens 2 to 4 times' pr week in average over a year.

And it's only the trade Unions that deal with the problem. When we have discovered the problem we can call the police if the workers comes from outside the EU and Scandinavia. Then they will be arrested and dispelled. When the new Eastern Europe countries enters the EU after 2004, if their people votes for it, there will only be the very hard work left. To find the workers to make their Employers to sign an agreement, to organise the workers… and the most difficult job! … To make the firm to keep the agreements.

Of course we know that building-workers only comes here to work, because they are un-employed, bad treated and often with a lot of social problems at home. They are not travelling that far for the fun of it.

But we end often in a very contradictionary situation with our colleges from abroad.
Hard confrontations with the Italians at the official state-libery.
Long negotiations with the British.
And so on.
Often we first do get results, when we are treating with physical blockades.

I have just ended a case in the Dutch Embassy in Copenhagen, were a Swedish firm did pay two Swedish carpenters 105 DKr pr hour. Now he pays them 151 DKr. but after a threat about publishing that the Dutch couldn't afford to pay a normal wage.

Some people from Lithuanian have just been send home, and some god people from Poland. In other words workers fights workers because the market "guys" have succeeded in their talk of the free and individual movement of the labours in EU.

We wouldn't help the bad organised and suppressed colleges by given up, what we have gained. It's not the building-workers who exploit other workers. They are producing more than they are getting paid even in Denmark.

They have to organise at home. It's our duty to help them with our experiences, and for ex.: We have decided to pay for one organiser in each of the Baltic countries for one year. But the liberation is, in the end, their own work. We can just help a little and raise demands of fair trade and fair treatment of workers of Europe and in the world in common. And call for concrete sanctions if an EU country doesn't stick to the ILO conventions. For the moment it has no practically consequences. Opposite when You don't keep the economically agreements (The convex demands) The new liberalists are pulling rather effectively in the opposite direction for the moment.

The exclusion of a lot of workers is a fact, and meanwhile does a lot of wellpaid and well-educated people keep talking of the new information society. As if everything was produces by information's. But far from all are produced by exchanging information's although it has a big importance. The fact is still, that a lot of the industrial work just has been removed to the 3. World with low wages, and were you can't move the worksheets the wealthy part of the people in a society can exclude the national workers by importing low paid workers with no trade Unions and no agreements.

In one year with a new liberalisth government the number of un-employed members in the Carpenters Union in Copenhagen (my Union) have raised from 5% to nearly 20 %.

And the government want's prohibition law against closed shop agreements and against sympathy actions. Just like Mrs Thatcher did in Great Britain some twenty years ago.

And our government wants to separate the unemployment assurance from the Danish trade Unions; a system witch probably is on of the reasons that more than 80 % of the labours are organised I Denmark. Among the building workers it's more than 90 %.

We have seen the demolishing of trade Union in Germany when we're talking about building-workers. During the building boom in Berlin. We have seen it in New Zealand in common and in a lot of other places all over the world. Not EU to forget. The consequences is a lot of exclusion of workers and a creating of so called "working poor" people in low paid part time jobs. USA and GB is some scaring ex.

One of the main goals You have to follow if You belongs to the wealthy and greedy part of a minority is to get off the Trade Unions by making the members to leave or to be passive actors in the battle.

Jens Borking.