A ‘posted worker’ is a person employed in one EU country (‘Member State of origin’) and sent by his/her employer on a temporary basis to work in another (‘host Member State’).
The 2007/2008 judgments by the European Court of Justice, notably in the Laval, Viking, Rüffert and Luxembourg cases, undermined the rights of posted workers. The principle of non-discrimination between all workers on the same territory for the same job is no longer guaranteed. Consequently, the ETUC demanded a revision of the Posting of Workers Directive 96/71/EC.
In spring 2014, the EU institutions adopted Directive 2014/ 67/ EU to improve enforcement and, in March 2016, the European Commission finally published its proposed revision. While this new proposal does not satisfy all trade union demands, it represents a considerable improvement, and the ETUC welcomed the Commission’s decision to reject objections from individual Member States.