Free mobility, locked rights: the posting of construction workers from Portugal

ABSTRACT

Mobility has become a cornerstone of the contemporary social world. In the European Union, the removal of barriers aimed at promoting the free movement of the labour force is a major goal of the integration process. This article investigates the political economy of posting, analysing the working and living conditions of Portuguese construction workers posted to other EU Member States. It highlights a set of abusive and exploitative practices involved in posting and the role those practices play in the (de)regulation of labour within the construction sector. In spite of the access to a pan-European labour market and the general principle of equal treatment, posted workers have restricted social rights in the host country. The study presented is based on research developed within the ‘EU Post Lab’ project, aimed at promoting activities of cooperation and awareness raising in the field of posting. The methodology adopted includes document analysis and interviews.

KEYWORDS:

• Construction industry
• European Union
• labour mobility
• posted workers
• precariousness
• working conditions
• mobility justice

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the comments of the referees.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The Directive (EU) 2018/957 amending Directive 96/71/EC was approved after the conclusion of the current research. It adds some additional provisions for the protection of workers’ rights and replaces the reference posting period from 24 months to 12 months.

2. EU Post Lab: Developing experiences of administrative cooperation and enhanced access to information in the framework of the posting of workers (VP/2016/006/0037).

3. The project aimed to interview also other institutions involved in the process such as in the Portuguese case, trade unions and the Social Security but it was not possible to get their cooperation. Still, and considering the almost inexistent information and reflection available until now, the methodology applied was central to understand in detail the framing and formal procedures involved in posted work and to gather the most relevant data from the social actors who know best the main challenges Portuguese workers face when posted abroad.

4. The Internal Market Information System (IMI), created under EU single market laws, enables the exchange of information between the involved authorities from different EU countries.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by European Commission (VP/2016/006/0037). The revision of this text was provided by theFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia through the Strategic Financing of the R&D Unit UID/SOC/03126/20.