Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The dark side of the tour. Labour and social security challenges of highly mobile workers in the live performance sector

  • Article
  • Published:
ERA Forum Aims and scope

Abstract

This article discusses challenges relating to the social security and employment status of highly mobile workers in the live performance sector. These are persons whose place of employment is not a particular Member State but Europe. As such, these challenges arise from their often-weak connection to a specific Member State. The article provides an overview of a number of problems that mobile artists and their employers encounter under the EU legal framework for posting of workers and social security coordination, and explores some possible solutions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. EU: European Union; EFTA: European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland).

  2. EU/EFTA movers: EU-28 or EFTA citizens who reside in an EU-28 or EFTA country other than their country of citizenship.

  3. Eichengreen [7].

  4. Fries-Tersch et al. [11].

  5. De Wispelaere and Pacolet [4].

  6. Andrijasevic and Sacchetto [1].

  7. van Ostaijen and Scholten [22].

  8. Kilpatrick [15].

  9. A New Settlement for the UK within the EU, OJ 2016/C 69 I/01. These changes were conditional upon the UK voting to remain in the EU.

  10. See for instance Jeremy Corbyn on Andrew Marr Show (BBC), 13.1.2019, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/13011901.pdf: “I’m not against the free movement of people. What I want to end is the undercutting of workers’ rights and conditions […] and I did in the referendum actually make quite a lot about the whole issue of what’s called the posting of workers directive on that issue”.

  11. Niesten [18].

  12. Jorens et al. [14].

  13. The sector can be classified under NACE code R90 ‘Creative, arts and entertainment activities’ (i.e. ‘cultural employment’). Employment statistics for this NACE code are published by Eurostat on the basis of the EU Labour Force Survey. However, in order to make a correct estimate of the employment in the sector, only NACE R90.01 ‘Performing arts’ should be taken into account. Such detailed figures are not publicly available.

  14. De Wispelaere and Pacolet [4].

  15. Based on figures from the Belgian National Social Security Office (NSSO) – Department for International Relations.

  16. European Commission [10].

  17. De Wispelaere and Pacolet [5].

  18. For more information, see also the annual report published by ‘Direction Générale du Travail’ on the number of reported incoming posted workers to France.

  19. Based on information from ‘Directions régionales des entreprises, de la concurrence, de la consommation, du travail et de l’emploi’.

  20. Based on data for 12 reporting Member States. Data for some important host Member States such as Germany are missing.

  21. Niesten [18].

  22. Posting of workers in the EU is regulated by Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services, OJ L 18, 21 January 1997 (hereinafter ‘Posting of Workers Directive’ or ‘PWD’).

  23. Rocca [20].

  24. Including important elements such as minimum wages (or, better, “remuneration”, after the coming into force of the Revision of the PWD), maximum working time, and so on.

  25. European Commission [9].

  26. “As far as the terms and conditions of employment of posted workers are concerned, Directive 96/71/EC applies to all postings, irrespective of their duration”.

  27. See PEARLE*, Call to the EU to address disproportionate administrative burdens and legal gaps in context of posting of workers, Brussels, 3 June 2019.

  28. Directive (EU) 2018/957 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 June 2018 amending Directive 96/71/EC concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services.

  29. Lhernould [17].

  30. Rocca [21].

  31. CJEU, Case C-65/98, 15 March 2001, André Mazzoleni and Inter Surveillance Assistance SARL.

  32. ‘Basic’ Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems, and ‘Implementing’ Regulation (EC) no 987/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems (hereinafter jointly referred to as the “Coordination Regulations”).

  33. Cornelissen and De Wispelaere [2].

  34. European Commission [8].

  35. See Administrative Commission Decision A2 of 12 June 2009, concerning the interpretation of Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the legislation applicable to posted workers and self-employed workers temporarily working outside the competent State.

  36. Lhernould [16].

  37. https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-7698-2019-ADD-1-REV-1/en/pdf.

  38. Article L762-1 of the French Labour Code.

  39. European Commission [9].

  40. Jorens and Lhernould [13].

  41. Article L1262-6 of the Labour Code and decree of 4 June 2019, Article 1.

  42. The exception does not include technicians involved in the assembly and disassembly of installations and equipment.

  43. Royal Decree of 20 March 2007.

  44. In this regard, see the publication of Pearle* – Live Performance Europe: “The ultimate cookbook for cultural managers – social security in an international context”.

  45. Jorens and De Wispelaere [12].

  46. European Commission [10].

  47. Regulation (EU) 2019/1149 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 establishing a European Labour Authority, amending Regulations (EC) No 883/2004, (EU) No 492/2011, and (EU) 2016/589 and repealing Decision (EU) 2016/344, Article 5(c).

  48. See Case C-33/17, 13 November 2018, Čepelnik d.o.o. v Michael Vavti, and Joined Cases C 64/18, C 140/18, C 146/18, and C 148/18, 12 September 2019, Zoran Maksimovic and Others v Bezirkshauptmannschaft Murtal and Finanzpolizei.

  49. Recital 15 of Directive (EU) 2018/957 states that “Because of the highly mobile nature of work in international road transport, the implementation of this Directive in that sector raises particular legal questions and difficulties, which are to be addressed, in the framework of the mobility package, through specific rules for road transport”.

  50. The provisional agreement on the revision of the Coordination Regulations (13.03.2019) only exempts ‘business trips’: “Unless otherwise provided for by Article 16 of the Implementing Regulation, with the exception of business trips, where a person pursues his activity in a Member State other than the Member State competent under Title II of the Basic Regulation, the employer or, in the case of a person who does not pursue an activity as an employed person, the person concerned shall inform the competent institution of the Member State whose legislation is applicable thereof in advance.”

  51. https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/initiatives/ares-2017-5862503_en.

  52. Wagner [23].

  53. BBC News, Belgium protests over German low pay in EU complaint, 9.4.2013.

  54. See also Pieters and Vansteenkiste [19]. At the time, the Authors proposed the creation of a so-called ‘13th State’ for mobile workers in the EU.

  55. Degoli [6].

References

  1. Andrijasevic, R., Sacchetto, D.: From labour migration to labour mobility? The return of the multinational worker in Europe. Transfer 22(2), 219–231 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Cornelissen, R., De Wispelaere, F.: 60 years of European social security coordination. Achievements, controversies and challenges. In: Vanhercke, B., Ghailani, D., Spasova, S. (eds.) Social Policy in the European Union: State of Play 2019. ETUI, Brussels (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  3. De Wispelaere, F.: 60 years of coordination of social security systems: still room for improvement. BTSZ/RBSS 61(1), 159–181 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  4. De Wispelaere, F., Pacolet, J.: Posting of Workers: Report on A1 Portable Documents Issued in 2017. European Commission, Brussels (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  5. De Wispelaere, F., Pacolet, J.: Posting of Workers: Collection of Data from National Declaration Tools in 2017. European Commission, Brussels (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Degoli, M.-C.: Free movement of workers and the RESAVER scheme for researchers. Eur. J. Soc. Secur. 19(2), 172–185 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Eichengreen, B.: The Eurozone crisis: the theory of optimum currency areas bites back. Notenstein Academy White Paper Series (2014)

  8. European Commission: Practical Guide. The Legislation That Applies to Workers in the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA) and in Switzerland. European Commission, Brussels (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  9. European Commission: Practical Guide on Posting. European Commission, Brussels (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  10. European Commission: Report on the application and implementation of Directive 2014/67/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on the enforcement of Directive 96/71/EC concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services and amending Regulation (EU) 1024/2012 on administrative co-operation through the Internal Market Information System (‘the IMI Regulation’). European Commission, Brussels (2019)

  11. Fries-Tersch, E., Tugran, T., Rossi, L., Bradley, H.: 2018 Annual Report on Intra-EU Labour Mobility. European Commission, Brussels (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Jorens, Y., De Wispelaere, F.: Intra-EU posting: looking for solutions: a Herculean or a Sisyphean task? BTSZ/RBSS 61(1), 113–138 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Jorens, Y., Lhernould, J-P.: Procedures Related to the Granting of Portable Document A1: An Overview of Country Practices. European Commission, Brussels (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Jorens, Y. (ed.), Lhernould, J-P. (ed.), Fillon, J., Roberts, S., Spiegel, B.: New forms of mobility, coordination principles and rules of conflict. Think Tank Report 2008. European Commission, Brussels (2008)

  15. Kilpatrick, C.: The displacement of Social Europe: a productive lens of inquiry. Eur. Const. Law Rev. 14, 62–74 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Lhernould, J-P.: The Commission’s proposal amending social security coordination regulations: how to combine Union citizens’ rights and social security institutions’ needs? ERA Forum 18(2), 155–164 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Lhernould, J-P.: Directive (EU) 2018/957 of 28 June 2018 amending Directive 96/71/EC concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services. What will change in 2020? ERA Forum 20, 249–257 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Niesten, H.: Revisiting the fiscal and social security status of highly mobile workers in the road and railway transportation: quo vadis. Intertax 46(11), 836–855 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Pieters, D., Vansteenkiste, S.: The Thirteenth State. Towards a European Community Insurance Scheme for Intra-Community Migrants. Acco, Leuven (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Rocca, M.: Posting of Workers and Collective Labour Law: There and Back Again. Between Internal Market and Fundamental Rights. Intersentia, Cambridge (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Rocca, M.: Stepping stones over troubled waters. Recent legal evolutions and the reform of the posting of workers directive. In: Lillie, N., Arnholtz, J. (eds.) Posted Work in the European Union the Political Economy of Free Movement, pp. 167–184. Routledge, Abingdon (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  22. van Ostaijen, M., Scholten, P. (eds.): Between Mobility and Migration. The Multi-Level Governance of Intra-European Movement Springer, Berlin (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Wagner, I.: EU posted work and transnational action in the German meat industry. Transfer 21(2), 201–213 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. HIVA Research Institute for Work and Society, Parkstraat 47, Leuven, Belgium

    Frederic De Wispelaere

  2. CNRS-University of Strasbourg, UMR 7354 DRES, Strasbourg, France

    Marco Rocca

Authors
  1. Frederic De Wispelaere
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marco Rocca
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frederic De Wispelaere.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

De Wispelaere, F., Rocca, M. The dark side of the tour. Labour and social security challenges of highly mobile workers in the live performance sector. ERA Forum 21, 35–46 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12027-020-00600-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12027-020-00600-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation