After 12 hours of discussions, European Union’s Labour Ministers finally agreed upon the posted workers’ reform.
REDUCTION OF THE MAXIMAL POSTING DURATION
European countries have finally found an agreement regarding the maximal secondment duration which will be 12 months, or 6 months with a derogation, instead of 24 months previously (and 6 for the transport sector, that will not change for now).
EQUALITY OF WAGES
This reform is also about a controversial subject concerning social dumping : equality of wages. Actually, a posting worker has to be paid the minimal salary of the country where he’s working, but a lot of employers try to reduce the final payment by hundreds of euros, by deducting some living charges, transport charges, or equipment.
According to the reform voted on the October 23rd, all the rules valid for the local workers will apply also to posted workers : they will have to be paid the same way as their colleagues at equal competence (included bonus, 13th month, etc).
TRANSPORT SECTOR UNCHANGED
Concerning the transport sector, Eastern European States together with Spain and Portugal, managed to keep it out of the new reform. Thus, for now, the directive 1996 will continue to be applied, until a proposition of a new reform.
The final adoption of this reform is planned at the end of 2017, and Labour Ministers of the European Union have agreed on a 4 years transition period.
