EU richt aandacht op problemen van zwart werk (en)

On 21st October Algimanta Pabedinskienė, Minister of Social Security and Labour participated at the Conference in Brussels on the issue of labour law organized by the European Commission, where the focus was on the theme of the undeclared work in EU. The aim of the Conference - to discuss initiatives of the European Commission and policy in the area of the undeclared work and involve the interested parties in an open discussion about the foreseen priorities of the EU in the field of labour law.

It was stressed at the Conference that undeclared work is not only the problem of labour law, but also of taxation, assurance of social security regulations for a person, therefore it is important that all the forces of the parties should seek for measures helping in combat with undeclared work.

According to the Minister of Social Security and Labour Algimanta Pabedinskienė as the Presidency state of the EU Council, Lithuania started to analyse the issue of the undeclared work on 14 June, 2013 at the meeting of General Directors responsible for industrial relations in Vilnius. In the nearest future, after having received submission from the European Commission, we are going to take the initiative to establish the network of the EU competent institutions combating against the undeclared work. We believe that in order to achieve a more efficient combat against the undeclared work, it is necessary to include all the relevant authorities, the social partners, to improve the exchange of the best practice, cross-border cooperation, - today said the Minister A. Pabedinskienė.

Although the extent of undeclared work at EU level is significant, this situation illustrates and the range of the shadow economy in the European Union (ex., in Romania, Bulgaria shadow economy is about 30 %, meanwhile in Austria - 7,5%). Due to economy recovery, cases of the classical undeclared work (i.e., working without a contract of employment) are consistently decreasing.

It was said at the conference that undeclared work does not give any social guarantee for workers, that is why it is important that with the efforts of all the EU members, regardless of the types of employment contracts, for all workers social security should be guaranteed and current changes in the labour market should ensure the fundamental rights for all workers.

In cases of illegal or undeclared work in the context of preventive action, by educating the society about undeclared work damages both to the employer and the employee, and the State as a whole, a very important role is given not only to the Labour Inspections but also social partners. It is important to strengthen Trade Unions which have been active when informing and consulting workers in order to strive helping to ensure favourable working conditions for them,“ said the Minister Algimanta Pabedinskienė.

In Lithuania number of persons who worked illegally during the past three years remains quite stable. In 2013 during 9 months 830 persons were determined who have been working illegally (in 2012 - 950 persons during the same period, in 2011 - 840 persons).

The Conference was attended by the Ministers responsible for industrial relations, representatives from the European Commission, EU Institutions, employers ' and trade union organizations, and researchers.