Migration and Sustainable Development

1
Migration and Sustainable Development

• by
• Nils-Petter Wedege
• Senior adviser, The Norwegian Labour Inspection
  Authority
• Technical adviser, IALI
• International Conference on Integrated Labour
  Protection System and Social Dialogue, Riga
  9.-10. November 2006

2
Migration and Sustainability of OSH

• Sustainability in relation to migrant workers
• To maintain and develop a sound and healthy
  working environment for
• migrant workers as well as for Norwegian workers

3
Possible impact on

• OSH in enterprises
• Competence of enterprises and employees
• Quality of performance
• Communication in enterprises and between workers
• Role of workers representatives
• Relation between workers and employers
• Challenges for Labour Inspectorates

4
Recruitment of migrant workers to Norway

• Temporary service providers or contractors with
  posted workers
• Individual job seekers looking for employment
• Hiring of employees from temporary work agencies
• Independent single-person firms (self-employed)
  offering temporary services

5
Volume of migration

• Statistics is not good, as is the case in other
  European countries
• We know little about migration through work
  agencies and about posted workers
• Total number is estimated to 70.000 100.000
  migrant workers mostly in the construction
  sector.
• The total Norwegian work force in the
  construction sector
• 45000 enterprises and 157.000 employees

6
Posted workers from Poland and Baltic countries
70 from Poland
7
Working permits issued to individual job seekers
Total 43 677
8
Why so many migrant workers to Norway?

• High activity in Norwegian economy
• High demand of workforce
• Agricultural sector
• Construction sector
• Limited need for vocational training
• High salaries
• Good working conditions

9
Migration an advantage for Norway

• Migrant workers is a positive and highly needed
  contribution to the Norwegian labour market
• Construction sector
• Agricultural sector
• Hotel and restaurant sector
• Industry

10
Situation for migrant workers

• Many migrant workers are without contracts or
  have got false contracts
• Many with too long work hours, bad accommodation
  and bad facilities at the work place
• Many are exposed to high risks and a bad working
  environment
• Illegal and black work is frequently observed
• The posted or hired worker is most often the
  loosing partners

11
Results from an investigation

• Workers from EU 8 countries
• have a lower absenteeism than Norwegian workers
• have a greater will to work
• entail language and communication problems at the
  work place
• have less knowledge about OSH
• Less competence?

12
Basic Norwegian Policy

• Ensure that migrant workers have decent working
  conditions at the same level as Norwegian workers
• Counteract criminality and illegal work
• Ensure that the Norwegian OSH standard will be
  maintained at a high level without making it a
  hurdle for the migration.

13
The Role of Labour Inspection

• LI has got the responsibility to follow up the
  policy of the Government by
• Running inspection programmes particularly in the
  construction sector
• Disseminating information and guidance to
• Norwegian enterprises
• Migrant workers
• Authorities in other countries
• Exchanging information with Labour Inspections
  particularly in Poland and the Baltic Countries

14
Inspection program in 2006

• 538 inspection towards social dumping carried
  out before August
• 550 notices given (order to comply with
  regulations)
• 33 enterprises reported to police
• Most reactions in the construction sector

15
Challenges for the LI

• Difficult to get in contact with the workers
  because of
• Language problems
• Cultural differences
• Fear
• Difficult to communicate with the employers and
  get relevant documentation
• Difficult to identify the real problems
• Implementing reactions towards foreign
  enterprises is difficult and time consuming

16
Agreement between Labour Inspectorates concerning
migrant workers

• Intention of agreement
• To protect workers and to ensure that migrant
  workers will have non-discriminatory working
  conditions
• Aims at facilitating the necessary information
  flow between countries
• Designation of Liaison offices
• Joint annually meeting between the agencies
• Procedures on exchange of information
• Scope of information
• Covers the cross-boarder posting of workers in
  the meaning of Directive96/71/EC
• Employers, posting workers and natural persons

17
Some conclusions

• Migrant workers contribute considerably to labour
  market in Norway
• To avoid Social dumping is highly prioritised
  by the Norwegian Authorities
• Bad working conditions are often observed
• More knowledge is needed and the development has
  to be followed closely
• Labour Inspection is playing a major role
• There is a need for cross-boarder co-operation
  between Labour Inspectorates