THE EU Council of Social Affairs ministers has approved a new directive stating that companies which "post" employees to work in other member states must respect the pay and other conditions prevailing in the host country. An amendment allowing an eight day exemption for posting employees to carry out assembly work was proposed by Ireland and accepted.
The decision was reached at a meeting in Brussels yesterday. Portugal and Britain opposed the directive. All the other member states voted in favour. Britain cannot opt out of the directive's provisions as they are being adopted under the main articles of the Treaty and not the Social Chapter.
In the past, in member states such as Belgium, Luxembourg, France and, most recently, Germany national laws are in place to ensure that companies "posting" workers from lower wage economies are paid the full rate for the job. Under the directive, such workers will enjoy better pay, working conditions and fringe benefits while working abroad. But it may reduce their opportunities since firms will find it as cheap to hire labour in the host country.
The EU Commissioner for Social Affairs, Mr Padraig Flynn, said it marked a "great step forward" in developing the social dimension of the Single Market.