‘Posted’ workers: top EU court rep on Poland’s complaint

Manuel Campos Sánchez-Bordona, the advocate general of the European Court of Justice – the supreme court of the European Union in matters of EU law – proposed to reject Poland and Hungary’s complaints about the provisions of the EU directive on the so-called “posted” workers. Warsaw and Budapest feel that the regulations violate the freedom to provide services.

The issue of so-called “posted” workers has divided poor east and rich west EU states for years. Western European nations seek to overhaul the system which allows “posted” workers to be employed in other EU countries on contracts that need only guarantee the host country’s minimum wage, and allow taxes and social charges to be paid in a worker’s home nation. “Posted” workers make up only 1 percent (an estimated 2 million) of the EU workforce, with many employed in haulage and construction. France has complained that Central and Eastern Europe gains an unfair advantage from the “social dumping” of cheap labor, arguing that posting low-paid workers hurts local jobs and erodes labor protections in higher-wage member states like France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Poland and Hungary lodged complaints against the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, because it was these two institutions as EU legislators that adopted the directive on posted workers in 2018, which Polish companies consider very harmful to their interests.

In their complaint, the Polish authorities accused the directive of violating the freedom to provide services within the Union. Warsaw argues that this violation results, inter alia, from the obligation to guarantee posted workers remuneration, including overtime rates, determined in accordance with the legislation or practice of the country to which they are sent. Polish companies believe that the regulations hit their interests, increasing the costs of their activities in the West.

(PAP)

(Reuters)