Social Dumping Issue: European Union Measures and Social Protection Rights of Workers in North African Countries

This study emphasized that social dumping issue remains problematic on a global scale. The background of this problem is the globalization of the economy, liberalization of trade and capital movements. They increase labor mobility, but due to labor productivity differences, they cause social dumping in countries where labor laws are weak and unqualified labor is dense. Social dumping causes unfair competition between countries and is therefore a practice that should be abolished in accordance with the International Labor Organization (ILO) Conventions. Solving this problem on a global scale, will be possible if countries implement the seven basic conventions of the ILO. The study examines the issue from two perspectives. The first is the European Union’s problems with social dumping and the measures it has taken, and the second is the progress of North African countries in adopting ILO Conventions, given their role as southern Mediterranean trade partners of the Union within the context of developing countries. Temporary assignment, as an application of the right of free movement of persons included in fundamental laws of the Union, covers temporary mobility of workers from one member state to another. This mobility affects wages leading to injustices and increase social dumping cases, due to differences in labor laws and labor productivity among member states, The Union is developing efficient measures to combat against this problem. As For North African countries, as relatively labor-intensive trade partners of the Union, their social protection will improve with the increase in the share of qualified labor in trade and capital movement with the European Union and their compliance with the fundamental conventions of the ILO.