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EFBWW News

EFBWW welcomes EU recommendation on adequate social protection

08/11/2019

The EFBWW welcomes the EU recommendation on the access to social protection. The aim of the recommendation is to ensure an adequate social protection for self-employed and non-standard workers, including platform workers. Althought, the EFBWW hoped for a more ambitious social protection and binding engagements for the Member States, the agreement is a postive first step. Within the construction industry there is a growing number of fake self-employed and platform workers, which have an  elementary social protection. The poor social protection with low social contributions is a well-known “poverty trap” for many fake self-employed workers.

The recommendation ensures access to adequate social protection for all workers and self-employed persons in respect of unemployment benefits, sickness and healthcare benefits, maternity and equivalent paternity benefits, invalidity benefits, old-age benefits and survivors’ benefits and benefits in respect of accidents at work and occupational diseases.

The recommendations explicitly acknowledges the role of the social partners to establish a social protection to vulnerable workers, while maintaining a decent standard of living and providing appropriate income replacement and preventing those workers from falling into poverty. Within 18 months all Member States will have to the European Commission on the corresponding measures to be taken at the national level. WB/