WORKING CONDITIONS AND FREEDOM TO PROVIDE SERVICES : THE MARKET VERSUS UNIONS IN TWO CASES BEFORE THE COURT.

Freedom to provide services or freedom of establishment versus labour law and trade union action: that in short is the highly political question the EU Court of Justice is grappling with in two different cases.

The first pits a Latvian firm, Laval un Partneri, against Sweden's trade unions. The unions carried out a blockade against the company in autumn 2004, obliging it to interrupt its activity and to divest itself of its subsidiary in Sweden (Case C-341/05). The second involves Viking, a Finnish maritime transport undertaking, and Finnish and European trade unions in the sector. Since Estonian seamen accept lower salaries than their Finnish counterparts, Viking planned to reflag its vessel Rosella,' which operates between Tallinn (Estonia) and Helsinki (Finland), in order to stand up to its competitors, notably firms from Estonia. The unions, rejecting the lower salaries and the possible firing of Finnish seamen, triggered a strike (Case C-438/05).

The first case thus raises the issue of freedom to provide services and the 1996 Directive on the posting of workers; the second, freedom of establishment and the 1986 Regulation on freedom to provide maritime transport services.

The oral arguments were presented on 10 and 11 January...