(10 May 2016) – An attempt by the European Commission to revise the contentious Posted Workers directive is likely to fail, as the national parliaments of at least ten member states from Central and Eastern Europe are reported have used a yellow card to stop the legislation.
On 8 March, the European Commission proposed a review of the Posted Workers Directive, which regulates people employed in one member state, but are sent to temporarily work in another.
The new proposal intends to redress so-called ‘social dumping’, where European companies use low-cost workers to circumvent the labour laws of the host country. An average hour of work costs an employer €40 in Denmark and €39 in Belgium, but only €3.80 in Bulgaria, €4.60 in Romania and €8.40 in Poland.
Jean-Claude Juncker has advocated that same pay should apply “for the same job at the same place”, meaning that a Polish or a Bulgarian worker in Belgium should be paid the same salary as his Belgian colleagues.
But more than ten national parliaments are reported to have made use of the so-called “Subsidiarity Control Mechanism” introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, according to which one third of the votes assigned to national parliaments require the European Commission to review its proposal. (EurActiv)