Posting of workers — reaction to the Commission's reply to Question P-003281/2017

21.8.2017

Question for written answer E-005223-17
to the Commission
Rule 130
Richard Sulík (ECR)

As I mentioned in Question P-003281/2017, employers of highly mobile posted workers are having, and will continue to have, serious problems with the calculation of remuneration for posting.

The Commission’s draft directive, which does nothing to make employers’ life easier, merely states the requirement for Member States to provide information on minimum pay requirements on one website. Member States, however, are not publishing comprehensive enough information even for domestic employers, who are having to pay specialists for help (accountants or payroll analysts).

It appears, therefore, that the Commission’s proposal gives a considerable advantage to large carriers, who can afford to pay international accounting firms with expertise in the laws of different countries, thereby destroying their competition (small carriers). The international transport market in the countries which support the text of the Commission’s proposal is largely in the hands of a few large companies, whereas the remaining Member States have a higher number of small carriers which could be rendered bankrupt by the cost of wage calculation.

How has the Commission taken this situation into consideration?

If the Commission must, for whatever reason, propose the creation of barriers to the functioning of the internal market, why will it not accept proposals to mitigate the effects of those barriers — the suggestion in Question P-003281/2017, for example: to create a single online platform which, when relevant criteria is submitted (age, length of experience, number of dependants, place of posting, length of posting, etc.), will generate a document with the exact minimum pay for the posted worker?