MEP Radtke: mindless price competition squeezes the worker, not the way forward

**UPDATE: The European Commission has responded to the questions Dennis Radtke posed in reference to the CoESS joint declaration.

MEP Radtke is asking whether the Commission intends to reconsider its current rules and strategy on social public procurement in order to stop the publicly financed race to the bottom?

This is among the written parliamentary questions sent by MEP Dennis Radtke (EPP, Germany) on 25 January 2023. This formal submission requires the European Commission to respond.

MEP Radtke draws attention to the joint declaration on public procurement and collective bargaining, reached between UNI Europa and CoESS (the workers’ and employer side of the private security sector). The declaration criticises the Public Procurement Directives for leaving the door open for incentivising some bidders to ignore social criteria. This in turn weakens the positive impact of collective bargaining and the value of social dialogue. Radtke further repeats the declaration’s call to consider an adjustment to the public procurement rules. Therefore, Radtke asks the Commission to respond to the question of whether “the current public procurement rules can be improved to strengthen collective bargaining?”

“Mindless price competition that squeezes the worker is not the way forward. Mindless price competition puts enormous pressure on workers, businesses and the quality of services. We therefore need to take a critical look at EU public procurement legislation and its apparent failure to promote decent work.”– MEP Dennis Radtke (EPP, Germany)

UNI Europa is proud to have the strong support of MEP Dennis Radtke among other MEPs who have taken the pledge for procuring decent work.

“Mr. Radtke has led the way for strengthening the workers’ voice through collective bargaining in several of his works in the European Parliament. His efforts show the importance of establishing a level playing field for positive competition between companies. If bad apples are allowed to undercut decent work employers, soon the whole basket goes rotten. Companies make positive contributions when they are competing on delivering better products and services, not on cutting corners.” – Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary of UNI Europa.

Note:

UNI Europa is running the campaign “No public contract without a collective agreement”. With this campaign, UNI Europa wants to reopen the Public Procurement Directive and make sure that companies can only win public contracts if they have or respect a collective agreement, this will help safeguard decent working conditions. For further information, click here.

Related articles:

• Private Security: Joint Declaration on Public Procurement and Collective Bargaining