EU adviser backs job protection

Many East European builders have moved west for jobs

The top legal adviser to the European Court of Justice has given qualified backing to trade unions acting to protect jobs and wages across the EU.

The advocate general made key recommendations in two test cases concerning workers from new EU member states competing with Swedes and Finns.

Industrial action was acceptable to make a Latvian firm pay Swedish wage rates in Sweden, he advised.

Similar action was deemed acceptable in an Estonian-Finnish labour dispute.

The advocate general's recommendations are not binding, but judges at the Luxembourg court follow them on most occasions.

Freedom v protection

The advice issued on Wednesday has far-reaching implications for the rights of EU citizens to work in other EU member states, the BBC's European Business Reporter Alex Ritson says.

It comes amid a heated EU-wide debate about cheap workers from the new Central and East European member states and the EU's rules on free movement of labour.

The advocate general was asked to give his opinion on EU law in relation to two disputes: whether trade unions were correct to block a Latvian construction firm from working in Sweden and a Finnish ferry company from relocating to Estonia to hire cheaper sailors.

Three years ago, construction workers across Stockholm downed tools when a Swedish union discovered that Latvian construction firm Laval un Partneri had been awarded a contract to refurbish a school and was paying workers less than the going rate it had negotiated for Swedes doing similar jobs.

After a prolonged dispute, Laval lost its contract and was forced into bankruptcy.

The advocate general's view is that while trade unions have a right to take industrial action to improve working conditions across the EU, strikes are unlawful if they are simply aimed at protecting local jobs.

In a separate case, Finnish unions threatened to expel their Estonian counterparts from the international trade union movement if they co-operated with the Finnish owners of a loss-making ferry service to Estonia.

Viking Line wanted to move the ferry's home base to the Estonian port of Tallinn, where the cost of hiring a crew is much lower.

The advocate general's advice is that industrial action to persuade a company not to relocate is acceptable - but that action must not prevent a company from providing services in another member state.

No date has been set yet for a final ruling.