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 Index 
 Full text 
Verbatim report of proceedings
Thursday, 31 May 2018 - Strasbourg Revised edition

Responding to petitions on tackling precariousness and the abusive use of fixed-term contracts (debate)
MPphoto
 

  Cecilia Wikström, author. – Mr President, in the name of my committee – the Committee on Petitions – I am very proud to present the oral question and the resolution responding to petitions on tackling precariousness and the abusive use of fixed-term contracts.

My committee has received, during the past few years, 80-plus petitions on the use of fixed-term contracts, zero-hours contracts and temporary contracts from different Member States (actually10 different Member States) and therefore the committee decided in November to organise a hearing under the title ‘Protection of the rights of workers in temporary or precarious employment’. The hearing looked in detail at all the issues raised in these petitions. A study on temporary contracts was also commissioned by Policy department C, and was presented during the hearing. It focused on two broad areas: first, atypical forms of employment and franchising; and, second, recommendations on adopting a holistic, comprehensive approach to address these problems.

In January of this year, the committee coordinators unanimously decided, as a follow-up to these two activities, to draft an oral question and a motion for a resolution responding to petitions. In May this year, we also adopted the oral question and the amended draft for a motion. So the oral question tabled by the committee focuses on the correct implementation of EU law regarding the protection of workers in the EU, and on the compatibility of some specific types of contract, such as the currently much-talked-of zero-hours contracts, with European legislation – i.e. whether there is compatibility or not.

Thirdly, action is needed to address the abusive use of fixed-term contracts and precarious forms of employment. We want to ensure proper implementation of employment directives in the public and private sectors. We have also highlighted the legislation proposed by the Commission and the need to ensure the predictability and sustainability of employment. And, lastly, we want to ask the Commission about the state of play in current infringement procedures for violation of EU labour legislation.

When you look at the text of the resolution, you should bear in mind the increase in the number of workers with fixed-term and part-time contracts and the significant increase in temporary employment contracts and atypical contracts, in both the public and private sectors. In the light of this large number of petitions that we have received, we consider there is a need for a debate on the situation of workers in the European Union. We would have liked to do this together with the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, but it takes two to tango and we were simply turned down. Nevertheless, we, as the Petitions Committee, need to address all those citizens everywhere in the Member States who actually came to us pointing out their difficulties.

We must not forget that petitions are a reflection of citizens and their situation, and are an important signalling mechanism to the legislative committees of this House and to the Commission. These petitions reveal gaps in the legislation, or in the implementation of legislation, and the petitions sent to my committee regarding precarious employment should therefore be taken extremely seriously. We would like – and I am talking here on behalf of all the political groups in the Committee – to invite the Commission not only to review the legal instrument but also to think of how, in future, to avoid the harmful situations of which all these people are victims.

We should find ways to ease the life of EU citizens who are suffering from precariousness, and the oral question and the resolution have been put on the plenary agenda in order to draw attention to the concrete problems faced by European citizens. We are – and I personally am – now expecting the Commission not only to reply to the specific points in the oral question but also to commit to making all the necessary efforts to ensure the best possible protection of all workers in the European Union. They deserve it.

 
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