Hierarchised labour mobilities beyond the EU: intra-EU posting of third-country nationals and power resources in semi-peripheral EU countries

In this article, we seek to contribute to the debate on hierarchisation of mobility in the EU by studying the intra-EU posting of third-country nationals (TCNs). We focus on posting EU countries and conceptualise their role as “semi-peripheral” countries, linking ‘peripheral’ labour to ‘core’ economies. Combining this world-system framework with the power resources approach, we specifically trace the handling of TCN-posting in two major posting states, Poland and Slovenia, examining the power resources of (organised) capital and labour in relation to TCN-posting.Our analysis reveals that EU and national regulations primarily reflect capital interests, positioning – in conjunction with socio-economic factors – Poland and Slovenia as semi-peripheral countries recruiting peripheral labour for core economies. Posted TCNs typically have weak institutional, associational and structural power resources. Yet, as the Slovenian case suggests, institutional power via neo-corporatist structures and supra – and transnational coalitional power resources may be crucial in semi-peripheral regions. They can induce institutional power resources, offering some worker protection and mitigating hierarchisation. We base our argument mostly on 17 semi-structured expert interviews with labour unions and administrative officials, such as social-security and enforcement authorities in the two states.