It would have been better if the article had described the authors at the start. I expect politicians to say, "we're very proud of this legislation" but it was confusing as heck when I thought a journalist was doing it. The Indy may be biased, but it's not Gizmodo :P
Thus far, exploitative employers have been able to take advantage of out of date legislation regarding so-called “posted workers” – when an employee from one EU member state is sent by their employer to carry out a service in another temporarily. Despite obligations for employers to pay workers the minimum wage of the country in which they are working, loopholes in the legislation and enforcement have allowed undercutting, including the deduction from wages for travel and accommodation. Workers hired locally would normally be entitled to allowances to cover these costs as well as higher rates of pay. This had the consequence of making migrant workers more attractive to employers looking to cut costs, resulting in the undercutting of the local workforce.
The new rules voted this week in Strasbourg will prevent the exploitation of workers, bringing about equality between posted workers and their local co-workers. Now employers will be obliged to offer equal pay from the start of the posting, as well as the same allowances and reimbursement for travel and accommodation costs.
Definitely seems like a good thing but I'm unsure how it will play out in reality. On the one hand, this will discourage employers from hiring temporary foreign workers. On the other, there's now more incentive for workers in low-paid countries to try and get hired abroad since their effective pay will now be higher (presumably resident aliens aren't subject to these loopholes so aren't affected at all by this). If they stay in their home country, they'll be earning less than previously - and who replaces them in their former work location ? As to the Brexiteer stance I suspect it won't make the blindest bit of difference : if the workers stay home they'll complain about the sudden lack of goods and services; if they keep moving abroad, they'll complain the legislation was ineffectual.
Originally shared by Jenny Winder
The EU has just passed a law that could end the problems with free movement which led to #Brexit in the first place
Corporations will no longer be able to undercut local workers by exploiting migrants. #StopBrexitSaveBritain
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/eu-brexit-uk-labour-laws-migrant-workers-a8375836.html
The workers from the 'foreign' country are generally trying to escape a generally poor economic situation where labour supply exceeds demand, so there is no problem with finding them replacements when they leave to occupy positions where their skills are more justly rewarded.
ReplyDeleteWhat if this is just another good reason to move the company outside EU?!?
ReplyDeleteProblem solved, company is happy.
EU countries will loose money from corp tax.
EU workers will be replaced by workers from outside EU.
Lower employment in EU.
... if that would happen, there’s no way to convince the company to go back to EU.
But this can’t and won’t happen, because companies don’t care about their costs ... wait a minute, they do!
Rhys Taylor In the US, workers compensation insurance can be very high in one state and low in another. Roofers have taken advantage of this for thirty years.
ReplyDelete