New publications on Labour Migration in Europe

Towards the Inclusion of Migrant Domestic Workers - Renewing efforts towards ratification of ILO Convention" No.189

This policy brief provides a snapshot of efforts to promote ratification of ILO Convention No. 189 in the EU. It also discusses the limitations of the recently adopted EU Care Strategy and some lessons learned from the experience of ILO Convention No. 189 ratification in different Member States. The policy brief concludes by making a number of short-term and long-term recommendations to improve the conditions of paid domestic workers, as well as the provision of care in the EU.

Vera Pavlou is Senior Lecturer in Labour Law at the University of Glasgow. She is the author of Migrant domestic workers in Europe: law and the construction of vulnerability (Hart Publishing, 2021) and of several other publications on care workers’ rights. Her broader research interests include gender equality at work and labour migration.

Strenthening the Mandate of the European Labour Authority
 

The creation of the European Labour Authority (ELA) is an effort to enhance control over and enforcement of the working conditions of migrant workers who cross the border into the EU. This contribution reflects on some of the shortcomings that have been there from the start, in terms of both the ELA’s competences and the missing links with other, sometimes more determinant policy areas in the single market, such as freedom of establishment and free service provision with posted workers. This is especially relevant for third-country nationals recruited to work inside the EU. Enforcing working conditions and tackling bogus practices involving posted third-country nationals inside EU territory should be part of the ELA’s work.

Jan Cremers is associated with the Law School of Tilburg University. He is the independent expert, nominated by the European Parliament, on the Management Board of the European Labour Authority. He has published several books on European social policy, corporate social responsibility and free movement of workers, as well as on labour  migration and the enforcement of labour standards. His recent research focuses on surveys among labour migrants about their working, living and housing conditions.

Labour Intermediaries and Labour Migration in the EU - A Framing Puzzle to Rule the Market (and void the Market of Rules)

Third-country nationals often rely on labour intermediaries for assistance when trying to obtain a work permit in EU Member States because the procedures can be onerous. These intermediaries are often involved in long and opaque subcontracting chains that companies use to cut labour costs.

The many exploitative practices that labour intermediaries engage in suggest that it would be a good idea to switch from a repressive to a preventive approach. The purposes would include, among other things: promoting direct employment by clarifying who the employer is; increasing labour market transparency by introducing an EU registration and licensing system for temporary work agencies and private employment agencies; and forbidding practices that negatively affect working conditions and trade union rights by banning or limiting temporary agency work and subcontracting.

Silvia Borelli is Professor of Labour Law at the University of Ferrara. She belongs to the Editorial Committees of Lavoro e Diritto and Rivista giuridica del lavoro (journal members of the International Association of Labour Law Journals) and is a member of the Academic Network on the European Social Charter and Social Rights (Réseau académique sur la charte sociale européenne et les droits sociaux). She has been involved in many research projects at national and European level, including the ETUC project Securing Workers Rights in Subcon-tracting Chains; the EFBWW project Cross-border Social Fraud/Abuse in Social Security; and the ETUI project Mapping the Rules on Posting and Short-term Migration of Third Country Nationals.