Social insurance for mobile construction workers : The effects of posting and other forms of mobility on worker precarity

Abstract

Policy recommendations

The regulatory regime pertaining to posted workers resolves the problem of continuity of coverage and contributions for migrant construction workers by situating social insurance in the sending country. This results, de facto, in a system that is complex, multi-jurisdictional and idiosyncratic, incentivising employers to avoid contributions. The regime should be restructured via EU legislation to be more self-enforcing, so that workers are no longer de facto obliged to understand and enforce the rules themselves.

• There should be simple, uniform and anonymous procedures to enable mobile construction workers to check required and realised social insurance contributions, and to report possible employer violations throughout the EU.

• Unions should have access to information on the status of mobile construction workers’ social insurance conditions to improve their ability to represent this group. This could help to address the enforcement gap.

• Unions should explicitly advocate for ensuring that mobile workers have practical access to social insurance, both because this positions them as mobile worker advocates in areas that overlap with labour rights, but also because a lack of social insurance protection can drive down mobile workers’ wages and conditions.