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EFBWW News

Team Power Europe case: CJEU decision is a strong victory for workers

04/06/2021

The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) applauds the final ruling published today by the European Court of Justice (CJEU) concerning the emblematic Team Power Europe case. The CJEU decided to dissociate itself from the opinion of its advocate general in Case C‑784/19 involving a temporary employment agency (TEA) based in Bulgaria and posting workers to Germany.

EFBWW general secretary, Tom Deleu, states: “The CJEU decision is an important victory for the workers, for the trade union movement and for the European values. In December 2020 and again in May 2021,  we had warned that, if the court ruled in favour of the advocate general’s  opinion, it would give an important incentive to fraud and to set up letterbox companies, acting as temporary work agencies and posting cheap labour to other Member States.”

The European Court of Justice confirms that “the performance of the activities of selecting and recruiting temporary agency workers in the Member State in which the temporary-work agency is established is insufficient for it to be considered that that undertaking [performs] ‘substantial activities’ there.”

The CJEU heard our claims, considering that the contrary decision would likely encourage companies “to engage in forum shopping by establishing themselves in the Member States with social security legislation that is the most favourable to them".

Read the full press release here.