Oldal 293 [293]
THE EXPLOITATION OF LABOUR AND THE EUROPEAN VALUES
The decision of the European Parliament and the study that was published on
the same day as the statement and presumably had helped to prepare it may have
answered a few questions. However, the different forms of modern-day slavery
still seem to raise their heads in the EU. The issued was also addressed by the
plea issued by the trade unions in 2019, calling for the abolition of slave labour
on Europe’s roads.'$
We can conclude from all these that serious problems persist not only in the
so-called developing world but in the economies of the member states of the
European Union as well, which exploit the citizens of the member states looking
for work — often at each other’s disadvantage.’ It has also become clear that in
this symbiosis both the more and the less developed countries of the continent
take part. The Covid-19 epidemic that broke out in the countries of the European
Union in 2020 brought to the surface several problems that had lain “swept
under the carpet” for a long time. Problems that the big companies involved in
exploitation could not hide any more due to their serious consequences, which
suddenly started to concern multitudes." It seems, that the conclusions that can
be drawn from the experiences of the pandemic prove that the established forms
of corporate behaviour can be expected to change only if the measures taken are
strictly controlled and monitored by the government and the media."
However, the expectations concerning these changes are far from being
certainties at present. Examples like that of the Lufthansa airline serve as a
warning for this. The German-Austrian company, which pocketed astronomical
extra profit earlier amidst an emerging global economic crisis — without regard to
the expected future demands for air travel, an industry facing complete makeover
— demands to be paid billions of euros? with the assistance of the European
16 EFA Press Release, EU Governments Must Abolish Modern Slavery on Europe’s Roads, EFA
Greens,10 January 2019, https://www.greens-efa.eu/en/article/press/eu-governments-must¬
abolish-modern-slavery-on-europes-roads/.
See here: FRA, Súlyos munkaerőkizsákmányolás: az Európai Unión belül mozgó vagy ide
érkező munkavállalók, FRA (2016), https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra uploads/fra¬
2016-severe-labour-exploitation-summary_hu.pdf.
Most recently see in more detail: Szilagyi, Karoly, Tonnies: vesztfaliai példaképbdl
közellenség, Euronews (26 June 2020), https://hu.euronews.com/2020/06/26/tonnies¬
vesztfaliai-peldakepbol-kozellenseg.
See, for instance, here: Das Erste, MOMA-Reporter: Aus fiir Werkvertrage bei Tonnies. Was
macht der Fleischgigant jetzt anders?, Das Erste (22 January 2021), https://www.daserste.
de/information/politik-weltgeschehen/morgenmagazin/reportagen/moma-reporter-aus¬
fuer-werkvertraege-toennies-grossschlachterei-100.html.
2° Merkur.de, Nach Kurs-Absturz in der Corona-Krise: Lufthansa fliegt aus dem Dax ¬
Tausende Stellen stehen auf der Kippe, Merkur.de (06 August 2020), https://www.merkur.
de/wirtschaft/lufthansa-coronavirus-rettungspaket-dax-kuendigungen-entscheidung¬
angela-merkel-eu-kommission-krise-stellenabbau-zr-13716604.html.
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