The posting of workers in Austria. Working conditions, rule enforcement, and the fight against social dumping

PUBLICATION YEAR

2022

PUBLISHED IN

Cillo, R. & Perocco, F. (Eds.), Posted Workers. La condizione dei lavoratori in distacco transnazionale in Europa. Venezia: ECF.

Available here.

CITATION

Danaj, S. & Scoppetta, A. (2022). The Posting of Workers in Austria Working Conditions, Rule Enforcement, and the Fight Against Social Dumping. In: Cillo, R. & Perocco, F. (Eds.), Posted Workers. La condizione dei lavoratori in distacco transnazionale in Europa. Venezia: ECF.

DESCRIPTION

This chapter is a contribution to the book "Posted Workers. La condizione dei lavoratori in distacco transnazionale in Europa" and it focuses on posting in Austria by giving an overview of the posting trends, the governance system, and the main challenges in the Austrian context, specifically wage and social dumping, OSH, and rule enforcement, before providing a few concluding remarks. As a predominantly receiving country for posted workers, Austria has developed a complex governance system for the implementation of the posting of workers regulation and the enforcement of rules against wage and social dumping. Despite the existence of elaborate rules and intricate enforcement mechanisms, posted workers’ labour rights in Austria are still not always guaranteed, they operate under poor working conditions, and a level playing field is not ensured. The transnational temporary mobility nature of this form of service provision creates challenges to rule enforcement, which eventually expose workers posted to Austria to several vulnerabilities.