Abstract:Drawing on research conducted by the authors in the frame of the POSTING.STAT research project, this article explores the legal fiction that posted workers do not, at any time, ‘gain access’ to the labour market of a host State where they are in fact (temporarily) working. Hence, it analyses following question: at what point and under which circumstances are posted workers considered as working in a given Member State? To do so, it considers the use of the concept of ‘labour market’ across the case law of the … Show more
“…Posted work, which is very prevalent in the construction sector, can be regarded as a functional equivalent to outsourcing production to low‐wage countries (Menz, 2005; Wagner, 2015). The number of posted workers has been growing in the EU, with available data suggesting an increase from approximately 1 million postings in 2007 to approximately 4.5 million postings in 2019 (OECD, 2011, 2020; Wispelaere et al, 2020). The number of postings into Swedish and Danish construction sectors has also grown despite the economic slump caused by the financial crisis (see Figures 2 and 3).…”
Section: Background: Nordic Models Low‐wage Workers and Eu Regulationmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Number of registered posted workers in Denmark and Sweden, 2007–2019 Source : OECD (2011, 2020, and Wispelaere et al, 2020 …”
Section: Background: Nordic Models Low‐wage Workers and Eu Regulationmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Posted workers as a share of employment in Danish and Swedish construction. Source : Own calculation based on OECD (2011, 2020, Wispelaere et al, 2020, and Eurostat…”
Section: Background: Nordic Models Low‐wage Workers and Eu Regulationmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Furthermore, the data only goes back to 2007, and only in very recent years is information about sector of activity in the receiving country part of the registration. Figure 2 is based on these registrations found in OECD (2011, 2020), and Wispelaere et al, 2020, and reports the total number of posted workers in Denmark and Sweden (not only construction). Figure 3 shows estimates of posted workers as a share of total employment in the Danish and Swedish construction sectors.…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…It is based on either national registration, which varies from country to country, or mandatory social security registration (A1 forms) that are registered by the European Commission. The latter is the most comparable source, but there are well-known problems with lack of registration suggesting that the numbers are too low (Wispelaere et al, 2020). Furthermore, the data only goes back to 2007, and only in very recent years is information about sector of activity in the receiving country part of the registration.…”
While many coordinated market economies have responded to internationalization by regulation that creates dualization between insiders and outsiders, the Nordic countries have opted for an embedded flexibilization in which strong unions and cooperative employers have combined flexibility and equality. However, in recent years, the Nordic countries have come under pressure from an EU‐induced dualization that has institutionalized mobile low‐wage workers as an outside group. This article presents case studies of how Denmark and Sweden have responded to these challenges. While political processes have been different in the two countries, pressure from EU regulation and changes in employers' incentive to compromise implies that there is now a specific category of low‐wage workers in both countries' otherwise egalitarian labor markets. The article, thus, contributes to the literature on dualization by highlighting the pressure coming from EU regulation rather than national policy.
“…Posted work, which is very prevalent in the construction sector, can be regarded as a functional equivalent to outsourcing production to low‐wage countries (Menz, 2005; Wagner, 2015). The number of posted workers has been growing in the EU, with available data suggesting an increase from approximately 1 million postings in 2007 to approximately 4.5 million postings in 2019 (OECD, 2011, 2020; Wispelaere et al, 2020). The number of postings into Swedish and Danish construction sectors has also grown despite the economic slump caused by the financial crisis (see Figures 2 and 3).…”
Section: Background: Nordic Models Low‐wage Workers and Eu Regulationmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Number of registered posted workers in Denmark and Sweden, 2007–2019 Source : OECD (2011, 2020, and Wispelaere et al, 2020 …”
Section: Background: Nordic Models Low‐wage Workers and Eu Regulationmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Posted workers as a share of employment in Danish and Swedish construction. Source : Own calculation based on OECD (2011, 2020, Wispelaere et al, 2020, and Eurostat…”
Section: Background: Nordic Models Low‐wage Workers and Eu Regulationmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Furthermore, the data only goes back to 2007, and only in very recent years is information about sector of activity in the receiving country part of the registration. Figure 2 is based on these registrations found in OECD (2011, 2020), and Wispelaere et al, 2020, and reports the total number of posted workers in Denmark and Sweden (not only construction). Figure 3 shows estimates of posted workers as a share of total employment in the Danish and Swedish construction sectors.…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…It is based on either national registration, which varies from country to country, or mandatory social security registration (A1 forms) that are registered by the European Commission. The latter is the most comparable source, but there are well-known problems with lack of registration suggesting that the numbers are too low (Wispelaere et al, 2020). Furthermore, the data only goes back to 2007, and only in very recent years is information about sector of activity in the receiving country part of the registration.…”
While many coordinated market economies have responded to internationalization by regulation that creates dualization between insiders and outsiders, the Nordic countries have opted for an embedded flexibilization in which strong unions and cooperative employers have combined flexibility and equality. However, in recent years, the Nordic countries have come under pressure from an EU‐induced dualization that has institutionalized mobile low‐wage workers as an outside group. This article presents case studies of how Denmark and Sweden have responded to these challenges. While political processes have been different in the two countries, pressure from EU regulation and changes in employers' incentive to compromise implies that there is now a specific category of low‐wage workers in both countries' otherwise egalitarian labor markets. The article, thus, contributes to the literature on dualization by highlighting the pressure coming from EU regulation rather than national policy.
The EU social security Coordination Regulations envisage a special conflict rule that, under strict conditions, allows posted workers to maintain temporarily the social security insurance of the home Member State. The Portable Document A1 (PDA1), the proof of insurance, is a binding document for the institutions and courts of the host Member State that can only be invalidated or withdrawn by the institutions that issued it or by the corresponding national courts. The case-law of the European Court of Justice has clarified that under certain very specific circumstances a fraudulent foreign PDA1 can be disregarded by a Court, but never invalidated. Communication and collaboration between institutions of the issuing and receiving Member States and the judicial procedures for challenging a foreign PDA1 may need to be enhanced and improved, but the current rules of play respond to the logic of the Coordination Regulations, to sincere cooperation, to legal certainty, and to the uniqueness of the applicable law and the competent jurisdiction. The scarce available data shows that only a few of the three million PDA1s issued each year are being challenged. Given that the main role of the EU legislation is to protect workers, it does not seem logical to change the social security framework of posting, although it can be improved. Mutual trust must be restored.
PurposeTo analyse the policies, posting trends and worker experiences during the pandemic, this study uses the concept of motility, i.e. workers' mobility capital, and examines how posted workers' geographical mobility, their access to and conditions of employment and social protection were impacted. The authors discuss how the measures against the pandemic undertaken at the European Union (EU) and national level have affected labour mobility, the impact these measures have had on macro trends of posting to Austria, and lastly, how the pandemic and the actions against it have influenced the lives of posted workers at the individual level.Design/methodology/approachIn this article, the authors focus on the specific case of posting to Austria. The authors ask whether, and if so, how EU and national policies which came about during the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the motility of posted workers, and how these workers used their mobility capital in this unfolding context. The authors address the research questions with analyses of EU and national level policies, use administrative data on posting, and individual-level data based on interviews with posted workers and public authorities.FindingsThe authors find that the Austrian government's public health and economic priorities were jointly influential on the motility of cross-border workers. The specific case of the posted workers shed new light on the limits to such a national sovereignty approach when it comes to economic interests in an increasingly interdependent European labour market. This study’s findings show that despite the access provided at the policy levels, the motility of posted workers was also affected by their individual circumstances, or competences, which produced different forms of appropriation.Originality/valueThe authors apply the theoretical framework of motility by studying policy developments through the element of access options and conditions, and the posting trends to Austria and worker experiences at the individual level through the lenses of appropriation and competences. The authors find that while the EU and national public policy in enhancing access options have been successful during the COVID-19 period, amelioration attempts in access conditions have not been realised as observed in our analysis of the competence and appropriation dimensions of the posted workers in Austria. This highlights the need for a more integrated approach in the study of policies by exploring beyond the national and EU level policies and focussing on the implementation and observations at the individual level.
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