STA, 5 February 2019 - The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) has filed a formal complaint against Slovenia alleging that it is granting illegal state aid to companies that temporarily post workers abroad.
"Slovenia has organised its national legislation in such a way that companies that temporarily post workers abroad receive considerable reductions in social security contributions."
This allows these companies a significant financial competitive advantage, since they can "offer their services more cheaply abroad than in their own country," the organisation said in the complaint to the European Commission.
EFBWW President Dietmar Schäfers said there was "nothing wrong with this autonomy but countries must not deliberately abuse their independence by giving considerable financial benefits to their companies when they post workers abroad."
He claimed that the financial advantage for these companies easily amounted to around EUR 500 per worker per month, depending on the country the workers were sent to.
Between 2010 and 2016, the number of Slovenian posted workers increased from around 25,000 to 164,226, according to the organisation. These workers are mainly employed in the construction sector in Germany, Austria and Belgium.
The federation claims this makes Slovenia "a kind of gateway of cheap labour for Europe for numerous workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and Albania", which proves Slovenia has adopted a policy of exporting cheap labour.
