Following announcement of an informal, provisional agreement at the last inter institutional meeting on the posting of workers directive on Thursday 1 March, the social partners reacted rapidly with trade unions expressing satisfaction and calling for the co-legislators to back the provisional agreement as soon as possible, and employers criticising the agreement for being unbalanced.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is happy about a range of issues (see EUROPE 11972): the principle of equal pay for equal work has been enshrined in the rules and also introduced in collective bargaining at sector and regional level; the compulsory payment of amounts to cover travel and meals, posting for no more than 12 + 6 months, being fully covered by the law of the host country for ‘badly posted’ workers and amendments to the first article on the aim of the directive to ensure a stronger social dimension for the legislation.
Séverine Picard, a legal advisor to the ETUC, welcomed the agreement in conversation with this newsletter, pointing out that initially, the European Commission’s aim had been to partially open up the posting of workers directive, but the talks had introduced many measures that had changed the overall directive. Picard fears, however, the member states’ reaction at the meeting of the Permanent Representatives’ Committee (COREPER).
BusinessEurope up in arms. The agreement seems to be much less satisfactory to the employers’ organisation, BusinessEurope, which celebrated its sixtieth anniversary the same day. It described the agreement as a ‘bad deal’ that will damage the proper functioning of the synced market for services. Big employers regret that political tokenism had won the day.
The organisation notes in a press release that long-term secondment is a ‘common practice’ in the manufacturing sector and with commercial services, and says that restricting mobility will damage high-value-added activities and undermine the functioning of the single market in services. BusinessEurope concludes: ‘Debates on posting of workers in the last few years largely ignored the realities of companies and workers, and were hijacked by artificial considerations of a political nature based on a very biased and misleading use of facts.’
UEAPME, which represents SMEs, has not publicly issued an opinion, reported because its members are highly divided between those from western member states, which tend to favour a binding approach and greater protection from social dumping, and those from the east of Europe, which want the directive to be as unrestrictive as possible.
National ambassadors (the sherpas) will be examining the common approach on 14 March. Three inter institutional meetings (trialogues) will be held before a final informal agreement is reached. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)