Social dumping
 | The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (August 2017) |
Social dumping is a practice whereby employers use cheaper labour than is usually available at their site of production or sale, for example by moving production to a low-wage country or area, or employing poorly-paid migrant workers. Employers thus save money and potentially increase their profits. Systemic criticism suggests that as a result, governments are tempted to enter a so-called social policy regime competition by reducing their labour and social standards to ease labour costs on enterprises and to retain business activity within their jurisdiction.
In the European Union, there is a controversy around whether social dumping takes advantage of the Bolkestein directive.
Gains and losses
[edit]Entities losing from social dumping:
- Employees in exporting countries
- Child labor in exporting countries
- Industry and environment in exporting country
- Government in exporting countries
- Employees in importing countries
- Shareholders of the company in importing countries
Entities gaining from social dumping:
- Companies in importing country
- Shareholders in importing country
- Customers in importing country
- Industry in importing market
- Employment in exporting country
- Government and investment in exporting country
Policy issues
[edit]A joint NGO statement on the EU Seasonal Migrant Workers' Directive also warns against social dumping. The document argues that a vague definition of seasonal work might fail to cover all types of seasonal employment taking place when the Directive exerts its otherwise-welcome protective measures on the labour market.[1][2]
Marianne Thyssen, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, has noted that "there is no definition of the concept of "social dumping" in EC law".[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Joint NGO Statement on EU Seasonal Migrant Workers' Directive" (PDF). Retrieved 27 August 2012.
- ^ "Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of seasonal employment" (PDF). Retrieved 27 August 2012.
- ^ Crown Commercial Service (UK), THE PUBLIC CONTRACTS REGULATIONS 2015: GUIDANCE ON SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS, footnote 6 on page 11, referring to a written answer given by the Commissioner on 14 August 2015, published 12 September 2016, accessed 28 December 2022
External links
[edit]- European Union's Eurofound website: Social dumping
- Cabinet veterans challenge ministers to address 'social dumping' - The Guardian newspaper (UK) Tuesday 3 February 2009
- Social-dumping: a crisis in the UK Engineering Construction industry - Amicus website
- Social Dumping Hypothesis Issues and Challenges GMTDC Business Training & Consultation