In contrast to other industrial sectors, the construction industry produces, by means of mobile production techniques, immobile and stationary products in the form of infrastructure works and buildings. In the construction industry, it is the workers that move around rather than the products. It is therefore an industry characterised by the high mobility of its workforce.
In this framework, the "Posting of Workers" Directive (2018/957 of 28 June 2018, which amended the original Directive from 1996) constitutes a central piece of European legislation for the construction industry on which FIEC worked very actively. It aims at reconciling the exercise of the freedom to provide cross-border services under Article 56 TFEU with appropriate protection of the rights of workers temporarily posted from one EU country to another.
As a globally positive result, it sets out mandatory rules at EU level that must be applied to posted workers in the host country. It establishes a core set of clearly defined terms and conditions of work and employment that must be complied with by the service provider in the host country, with the aim of addressing the problem of unfair practices and to promote the principle that the same work at the same place should be remunerated in the same manner.
This issue will be further monitored by the European Labour Authority (ELA), and by FIEC, which sits in the ELA’s Stakeholders’ Group.