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Romanian Workers Posted to Germany

Precarious Working Conditions

Alexandra Voivozeanu    Centre for Ethnic and Migration Studies (CEDEM), University of Liège, Belgium    

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abstract

Drawing on participatory and non-participatory observation and on interviews with workers, union representatives and migrant advisors, this chapter focuses on the working conditions of Romanians posted in the construction and meat industry sectors in Germany. More precisely, it addresses their income level, housing and health, as well as union approaches towards workers in this type of employment. Both because the regulatory framework in force in 2015-16, when this research was carried out, did not grant wages above the minimum standards in Germany for posted workers, and as a result of informal agreements or unlawful practices of employers, respondents were often paid below the wages they were entitled to. Their accommodation ranged from shared apartments insides towns to living-containers at the construction site or, in extreme cases, to illegal housing in tool-containers. At the same time, even if as a result of intense work rhythm and poor work safety, posted workers are more vulnerable to health issues and accidents than regular employees, their social health protection is low. On the other hand, the constraints of the outdated regulatory framework and their limited resources are among the factors that determined unions to support advisory offices for posted workers, instead of recruiting them within their structures. In this context, posted workers have an unbalanced position in regards to that of their employers, with few who were able to enforce their rights through collective action.

Pubblicato
26 Settembre 2022
Accettato
15 Gennaio 2021
Presentato
08 Settembre 2020
Lingua
EN
ISBN (PRINT)
978-88-6969-516-2
ISBN (EBOOK)
978-88-6969-515-5

Keywords: Posted workersGermanyHealthAtypical employmentHousing

Copyright: © 2022 Alexandra Voivozeanu. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.