Posting of Workers
Workers who are transferred on a temporary basis
from one EU state to another or from outside the EU into an EU
country are known as "posted workers".
The
Posting of Workers Directive (96/71/EC) applies to posted
workers within the EU and is supposed to provide the posted worker
with the same minimum terms and conditions that apply to permanent
workers in the host country, even if these are better than those in
the worker's own contract or Member State. The posted worker's
contract is effectively changed during the posting to include the
local minimum terms.
In the context of EU enlargement and achieving
the internal market, the Posting of Workers Directive was
originally intended to protect workers and prevent unfair
competition, whilst removing barriers to the free movement of
labour and services. However, the European Court of Justice's (ECJ)
restrictive interpretation of the directive in a series of recent
cases has highlighted deficiencies in the directive and
illustrated that in some respects it may not be fit for
purpose.
The ECJ judgments have also called into question
the balance between business' right to free movement within the EU
on the one hand, and workers' collective rights and Member States'
ability to define their own labour legislation when dealing with
increased cross border mobility of workers and companies, on the
other.
Whilst supporting workers' rights to free
movement in the EU, GMB believes that posted workers must have
equal treatment with domestic workers to protect their rights and
prevent under-cutting of industry standards and collectively agreed
terms and conditions.
Together with our European trade union
colleagues, we are campaigning for a review of the Posting of
Workers Directive. We are also supporting the ETUC's call for a
Social Progress Protocol which would amend the EU treaties and
provide a guide to the ECJ, to ensure that the internal market
provisions of the Treaties are interpreted in a way that respects,
rather than undermines, fundamental social rights. In the
event of conflict between free movement principles and fundamental
rights, the latter should prevail.
For further information please click on the links below:
Economic freedoms vs. Fundamental
rights – the dark series continues
Posting of Workers
ECJ Cases
Social Progress Protocol
GMB Briefings on the
Posting of Worker Directive and the ECJ Cases
Engineering
construction industry
European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) -
‘Viking
- Laval – Rüffert: Consequences and policy
perspectives'