Regulation and Enforcement of Posted Workers Employment Rights (PostER)

Abstract

The collaborative PostER project funded by European Commission DG Employment examines the working and living conditions of posted workers in several key sectors to which workers are frequently posted between countries. Little is known of the actual experience of posted workers. Using academic researchers in five EU member states, PostER will gather and disseminate information on national practices related to posted workers? knowledge of employment rights and their enforcement, on the extent of the provision of information to stakeholders and on the potential application of sanctions. PostER focuses on posted workers in Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden and the UK. It uses varied methodologies including desk research and interviews with 60 posted workers and 25 stakeholders (including social partners and enforcement agencies). Photographic evidence on workplaces using posted workers will be collected for display on the project website and in the report. PostER will conclude with the launch of a final report at a conference for stakeholders from the five countries and from European agencies.

Keywords:

European integration , Labour standards/rights, Migrant rights , posted workers, working conditions

Description

This collaborative project is funded by European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and is led by the Working Lives Research Institute of London Metropolitan University, UK. In addition, there are the following national partners; Belgium: Université Libre de Bruxelles, Institut de Sociologie; France: Université de Toulouse le Mirail, CERTOP CNRS; Germany: Erlangen-Nürnberg University, Institut für Soziologie; Sweden: Linköping University, REMESO Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society. PostER's primary objective is to provide new information on what actually takes place in the posted worker employment relationship. It will provide further knowledge of the working and living conditions of posted workers in Belgium, Britain, France, Germany and Sweden, focusing on sectors that use significant numbers of posted workers in particular from the agriculture/horticulture, tourism, construction and business services sectors - and will disseminate that knowledge to key stakeholders in the trade unions and employers? organisations, media and government. Specifically, the project will establish the national practices in each of the five countries related to the enforcement of employment rights, provision of relevant information to stakeholders and the application of sanctions on behalf of posted workers. Of major concern is the extent of any gap between the terms and conditions of posted workers and those of equivalent non-posted workers. The information will be gathered through desk research and interviews with key stakeholders (including social partners in the relevant sectors), as well as with at least 15 posted workers in each of the five countries. Through the interactions of the project team, the project report, the establishment of web-based resources (including photographs) and holding of an international conference of social partners, enforcement bodies and other practitioners, PostER will promote the exchange of information and experience among the stakeholders more actively involved in the monitoring of the employment conditions of posted workers or enforcement of the applicable rules.

Publications

C. Thörnqvist and S. Bernhardsson (2015) Their own stories ? how Polish construction workers posted to Sweden experience their job situation, or resistance versus life projects. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 21(1) 11-23.

C. Thörnqvist and C. Woolfson, (2012) When tender turns tough: posted workers and the tendering regime in the Swedish construction industry. Construction Management and Economics, 30 (7): 525-533.

C. Thörnqvist and C. Woolfson, (2011) Dog den svenska modellen i Vaxholm - Laval-målets följder för den svenska arbetsmarknaden?, Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv, 17 (3): 2-24.

Other Academic Output

Final stakeholder conference with European Commission December 2011

Posted Workers in Sweden: The case of male, Polish construction workers?. Sweden final report for Regulation and Enforcement of Posted Workers Employment Rights (PostER) Contract No: VS/2010/0630 (REMESO sub-contract to London Metropolitan University Working Lives Research Institute) (with C. Thörnqvist). http://www.workinglives.org/londonmet/fms/M