Free movement of labour in Europe

Free movement of labour in Europe

Dr. H.A.M. van Lieshout

14-4-2011 Workshop Labour Market Research at EDUPROF Expert Meeting

1. An applied research program sponsored by RAAK MKB

2. Free labour movement in EU

3. EU-8 labour market transition

4. Three legal options

5. Three empirical reports

6. Discussion

Overview


www.arbeidsmigratie.eu


www.arbeidsmigratie.eu


• Flexicurity: policy strategy that attempts, synchronically and in a deliberate way, to enhance the flexibility of labour markets, employment structures and labour relations on the one hand, and, on the other hand, to enhance employment security and social security – notably for weaker groups inside and outside the labour market (cf. Wilthagen et al. 2004)

• Flexibility: free worker movement is a fundamental right which permits nationals of one EU Member State to work in another EU Member State ...

• Security: ... under the same conditions as that Member State’s own citizens

Free labour movement in EUA Flexicurity approach


• Transitional policy for a maximum of seven years where an existing EU Member State can limit access to its labour market from new EU Member States;

• Flexicurity: eventual liberalisation means flexibility, transition period provides a security blanket;

• 3 Frontrunners (Ireland, Sweden, UK) immediately opened market for EU-8;

• 10 other EU-15 Member States have opened their markets since (e.g. the Netherlands as of May 1st, 2007);

• Only Germany and Austria still restrict labour market access from the EU-8 through national measures until (at the latest) April 30th, 2011

EU-8 Labour Market TransitionSlowly but surely


1. (Direct) Wage employmentDutch mandatory rules from labour law and collective bargaining apply(Dutch cba’s are generally extended to cover all firms and workers)

2. Through (Dutch) temporary employment agencyDutch mandatory rules from abour law and collective bargaining applyTwo cba’s for temporary employment agencies by different employers’ associationsOne of which is extended by the state to cover the rest of the sector

3. Subcontracting to EU-8 …:1. Firm (European posting of workers directive means core of mandatory labour

and collective bargaining rules applies)2. Self-employed (obviously no labour law or collective bargaining applies)3. Temporary employment agency (not covered by freedom to provide services

but by posting of workers directive)

Three legal optionsTo use EU-8 labour in the Netherlands


• maximum work periods and minimum rest periods;

• minimum paid annual holidays;

• the minimum rates of pay, including rates; this point does not apply to supplementary occupational retirement pension schemes;

• the conditions of hiring-out of workers, in particular the supply of workers by temporary employment undertakings;

• health, safety and hygiene at work;

• protective measures with regard to the terms and conditions of employment of pregnant women or women who have recently given birth, of children and of young people;

• equality of treatment between men and women and other provisions on non-discrimination.

Core of mandatory rulesEuropean Posting of Workers Directive (96/71/EC)


• Three recent empirical studies: van den Berg et al. ( 2008); de Boom et al. ( 2008); Heyma et al. (2008)

• Estimated 158,000 labour migrants from new MEE EU Members in the Netherlands in 2008, of which 107,000 temporary (most of the latter are Polish, as are half of the long-term migrants)

• 48% in of temporary labour migrants in temp work, 23% direct employment in agriculture, 18% business services;

• Their average job length: slightly over 3 months;• Slight positive net congribution of this migration to public sector

of 1.2 billion;• Employers are generally very happy;• Some problems with semi- and illegal work;• Housing problems.

Three empirical reportsRecent Dutch experience with EU-8 workers


• Free EU worker movement finally becoming a reality … a modest one

• Developing jurisprudence has yet to pinpoint exact balance between freedom to provide services and (national) labour law and collective bargaining rights (cf. van Peijpe 2008)

• Problems that arise in the Netherlands (e.g. semi- to illegal work; housing) rooted in Dutch regulation rather than EU, and are not exclusive to EU-8 migrants

• Binding collective bargaining agreement for temporary employment agencies seems crucial to protect binding minimum standards; fragmented associatonal structure resulted in interesting IR war in early 2009

DiscussionSome observations


• Both socio-economic and legal

– Different fields: labour law, social security law, taxes and benefits, housing

• Both national, EU-level, and comparative

– Compare whether differences in national legal regimes (i.e. collective bargaining) relatie to different labour migration practices and/or socio-economic results

– Explore grey areas / circumvention practices through international cooperation

– Use native speaking exchange students to interview labour migrants

DiscussionResearch interests

Thank you!

Documents

Free movement of labour in Europe