Dr. Thomas Klein and Alexander Schneider, who are both research associates of the juridical work group of the IAAEU, closely examined legal questions regarding the changes to the European Union’s Posting of Workers Directive (Directive 71/96/EG) that were induced by the Directive 2018/957/EU that came into force in the summer of 2018 in an article that was published in the journal Soziales Recht ((SR), issue 1, 2019, p.21-36). The paper deals especially with the expansion of the catalogue of extending working conditions, the extension of universally binding collective agreements that are independent of any sector, and the extension of universally effective as well as representative collective agreements. Additionally, the article covers the new regulations regarding cross-border temporary work, the further approximation of employment conditions after a posting period of one year, and the proposals for a revision of the coordination arrangements in social law that are relevant to the posting of workers (=regulation (EG) 883/2004 and regulation (EG) 987/2009). Klein and Schneider hold the view that the individual changes bring about new features only partially. Other regulations merely confirm the existing legislation that the EJC based on the old directive. According to the authors, the posting directive is still far from equal treatment in the sense of “same pay for the same work in the same place” after the coming into force of directive 2018/957/EU. In this regard, the changes to the term of remuneration and the possibility of an extension of collective agreements that are not universally binding can be seen as improvements. Although this way of improving the protection of posted workers goes in the right direction, further efforts have to be made to achieve actually equal treatment of employees and locally hired personnel. Apart from the respective legislators, the EJC could contribute to this by attaching more importance to the free movement of workers in its jurisdiction and by giving them more weight in its considerations regarding restrictions of the freedom to provide services.

The paper - that is limited to the level of Union law - is complemented by a second article of the authors that examines the practical implementation of the changes mentioned above into German law. This contribution will be published in issue 2, 2019, of the journal Soziales Recht.