Debate contributions by Anthony SMITH

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, in the capital-intensive organisation of labour, subcontracting is a practice that reduces employer responsibility and, conversely, increases the exploitation of workers. I come from a region, Champagne, where the employers of the wine sector, which had a turnover of more than 6 billion in 2022, excel in the use of subcontracting. For example, for the cascading recruitment of a precarious workforce, still often paid by the job and not by the hour of work, but also – a lesser known phenomenon – for the accommodation of its harvesters and for the organisation of their meals and transport – all producing often unworthy working conditions, where accidents at work and forms of modern slavery are multiplying. To combat these effects of subcontracting, it is necessary to extend the number of companies subject to European due diligence and to include in this duty the possibility for labour inspectorates to directly question the responsibility of contractors. Listen to the unions! Let's adopt a new regulation on subcontracting chains! There's an emergency!

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the situation is terrible. In Europe, every day, nine employees die at work, and every year nearly 3 million workers are victims of accidents at work. This hecatomb remains invisible and shamefully considered an acceptable risk by a large part of the bosses. And what to say in the face of these lives lost or wounded forever, to the families of the victims who are often alone and destitute in the face of justice and institutions. In France, in a decade, Hollande's and Macron's policies attacked labor regulations by removing, for example, health, safety and working conditions committees in companies, resulting in an increase in workplace accidents. In Europe, Vision Zero, the outcome of the European Parliament's 2020 resolution to eliminate deaths and reduce occupational diseases by 2030, has already failed. Making the formal right of Article 31 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights a reality means putting an end to the liberal policies that govern here in Brussels.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, there is one aspect of mental health that is too often overlooked, the one whose stage is played out at work, behind the doors of companies. In France, for example, it is up to the employer to take the measures, I quote, 'necessary to protect the mental health of workers'. However, this principle often remains theoretical and the means of labour inspection are derisory. We also note the lack of tools, in practice, to enforce the right to disconnect or to implement a genuine policy to assess psychosocial risks at work – two subjects on which we are still waiting for the Commission's initiatives. What about burnout, related in particular to the loads, pressures and work rates weighing on workers? This burnout is still not one of the conditions listed in the table of occupational diseases in France and in many EU countries, an essential step to allow compensation. However, these care failures have disastrous effects for workers, in particular by increasing the risk of suicide at work or because of work. There is an urgent need for action.

What a shame! What a shame to have allowed the genocide in Gaza and the war in Lebanon to kill tens of thousands of people through your policies and the support you have given it for over a year today. It is your actions, the unconditional support you have given to Netanyahu's far-right policies, which today make us aware of the situation that you say you deplore, but in which you have participated. Shame, yes, but shame on you, Mr. Bellamy.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, on 18 September I went to the Mulhouse prison, where I was able to talk to Christian Tein, the chairman of the Kanak National Liberation Front and socialist of Kanaky-New Caledonia. His name may not be known to you, and I am extremely proud to be able to pronounce it in this House. New Caledonia is still included today in the list of territories considered non-decolonized by the United Nations. On May 13, the French colonial state attempted a coup by proposing the thawing of the electorate, brutally breaking the 1998 Nouméa Accords. The social protest in Kanaky made it possible to obtain the abandonment of this reform. But the toll is heavy: Hundreds of wounded and thirteen dead. The French state chose repression and deported several Kanak militants to France, more than 17,000 kilometers from their homes. France must release Kanak political prisoners. Only respect for the process of self-determination will enable the sovereignty of peoples and the construction of the peace of tomorrow.