Rachid Belkacem
Fonction
Maitre de conférences
Organisation
Université de Lorraine, France
Les détachements transfrontaliers d’intérimaires du Luxembourg vers la Lorraine
Les détachements transfrontaliers d’intérimaires du Luxembourg vers la Lorraine
Border Region
Luxembourg-Lorraine
Language(s)
Français
Main Category
Introduction
This article presents the most important results of a research paper of the labour union Force Ouvrière within the scope of the Agence d’Obectifs IHRES (Institut de Recherches Economiques et sociales) in France. Its goal is analysing the practices of secondment of temporary workers from Luxembourg to Lorraine.
Summary
In the greater region SaarLorLux, the development of atypical forms of secondment of workers between Luxembourg and Lorraine was followed. This article focuses on the cross-border secondment of temporary workers from Luxembourg to Lorraine. It turns out that French nationals are often seconded to Lorraine as temporary workers by Luxembourgian agencies. Sometimes they will work close to home. This document is structured into three parts. First, it presents the most important socio-economical dimensions of these secondment practices. Then it shows how the different economic dynamics and social legislation between countries contributed to the development of cross-border mobility (which includes the secondment of workers). Finally, it presents the current elements of the debate about secondment from the point of view of the local representatives of Luxembourg's temping agencies, representatives of the labour union and those responsible at the French labour inspection. The temping agencies in Luxembourg therefore play a determining role for Luxembourg and Lorraine. They use the different tax and social legislations on the order of the companies in Lorraine. For them, temporary workers of Luxembourgian agencies are less expensive than temporary workers from Lorraine. These are qualified workers for industry and construction. They are seconded for relatively long periods and for permanent tasks. These are also workers who have worked for Luxembourgian agencies for a long time. The different levels, employer costs, social security benefits and wages form the basis for the development of such practices. According to those responsible in the temping agencies, such practices are legal, even though they are viewed very critically by labour unions and employees in Lorraine. The labour inspectors also consider them insufficiently controlled due to lack of funds.
Content
Cet article fait suite à une recherche contractuelle menée en 2014 et 2015 dans le cadre de l’IRES (Institut de Recherches Economique et sociales, Paris). Il reprend les principaux résultats des travaux d’analyse statistique, d’enquêtes de terrain auprès des acteurs économiques et sociaux, et il mobilise la littérature européenne existante sur le sujet. Il se centre sur les détachements de travailleurs en Europe avec un focus sur les détachements transfrontaliers de travailleurs intérimaires au sein de la Grande Région particulièrement entre la Lorraine et le Luxembourg. Il mobilise les sources d’informations statistiques émanant des services d’inspection du travail en France et des enquêtes sur les forces de travail à l’échelle européenne. Par détachement, il faut comprendre la situation où une personne quitte temporairement son pays pour aller travailler dans un autre pays, soit pour le compte de son entreprise, soit d’une entreprise tierce ou encore d’une entreprise de travail temporaire. Cette recherche est organisée autour de 5 principaux points. Le premier point analyse le cadre réglementaire européen du détachement du point de vue de ses caractéristiques, de ses évolutions et le débat intense qu’il suscite au niveau européen. Le second point dresse un état des pratiques de détachements en France et, de la France vers les autres pays membres et non membre de l’UE, du double point de vue des règles juridiques et des données statistiques. Le troisième point fait un état de la littérature existante sur le sujet dans les diverses disciplines académiques. Le quatrième point analyse les différents flux de détachements au sein de la Grande Région avec un focus des détachements du Luxembourg vers la Lorraine particulièrement de travailleurs détachés par les agences d’intérim localisées au Luxembourg. Le cinquième et dernier point présente les résultats d’une enquête auprès des différents acteurs concernés par les détachements qui sont les travailleurs, les inspecteurs du travail, les syndicats et les responsables d’agences de travail temporaire situées au Luxembourg.
Conclusions
This study results in six main conclusions. First, the secondments of workers in the greater region are mainly cross-border secondments of employees who include temporary workers, usually seconded from Luxembourg to Lorraine. These are tried and tested practices that already existed between Lorraine and the Saarland in the 1970s. They are an element of diversification of the cross-border commuter flows. Second, the scope of the economic and social differences in the greater region is the most important reason for development of these cross-border secondments. These differences in the economic and social dynamics become visible in the different employer costs that make temporary workers from Luxembourg attractive for companies in Lorraine. Third, the workers seconded in the greater region are well qualified, well trained and loyal employees of their temping agencies. This is not a low-cost model of secondment. The secondment benefits cross-border employment and is enriched by it. It is a dynamic element of cross-border mobility in the greater region. Fourth, the temping agencies in Luxembourg would like to use the different costs of workers by developing strategies for administrating the border region by creating corporate networks. Sixth, the industries who mostly use those seconded workers are the ones that need to produce locally. These companies cannot migrate into a low-wage country. In other words: These are mostly companies from the construction industry and certain industry branches, such as the automotive sector. Two types of use of secondment exist side by side in the greater region: A classical deployment model of employees from Southern Europe (Portugal) and employees from countries such as Romania or Poland, and a strictly cross-border model that applies mostly to the geographically limited secondment near the border and that this item covers as a focus.
Lead
Rachid Belkacem
Contributions
Rachid Belkacem, Laurence Montcharmont, Christophe Nosbonne et Benoît Scalvinoni , Université de Lorraine, 2L2S, Campus Lettre, 23 bd. Albert 1er F-54000 Nancy
Cathel Kornig : Laboratoire d’Economie et de Sociologie du Travail (LEST), Aix-Marseille Université, cathel.kornig@univ-amu.fr
François Michon : CNRS, Centre d’Économie de la Sorbonne
Keywords
Contact Person(s)
Date of creation
2019