Workers from non-European Union (EU) nations should have access to the same leave, working time and social security rights as their counterparts from the trading bloc.

This is according to the Employment and Social Affairs Committee, which held a meeting on March 16th and agreed equal rights and treatment for foreign employees should be a standard across the EU.

MEPs debated the issue at the summit and concluded EU states should permit tax benefits for overseas workers only when their family members are resident in the same country.

They were discussing the proposed "single permit" directive, which is intended to reduce red tape to permit labor migration to EU member states, providing a single procedure for obtaining work and residence permits and providing non-EU employees with a set of rights equal to those enjoyed by citizens.

A series of amendments have been put forward after the plans were rejected by MEPs in December 2010.

A proposal for a council directive on a single permit and non-EU workers' rights was initially put forward in October 2007.

Posted by Alex Donnell

Workers from non-European Union (EU) nations should have access to the same leave, working time and social security rights as their counterparts from the trading bloc.

This is according to the Employment and Social Affairs Committee, which held a meeting on March 16th and agreed equal rights and treatment for foreign employees should be a standard across the EU.

MEPs debated the issue at the summit and concluded EU states should permit tax benefits for overseas workers only when their family members are resident in the same country.

They were discussing the proposed "single permit" directive, which is intended to reduce red tape to permit labor migration to EU member states, providing a single procedure for obtaining work and residence permits and providing non-EU employees with a set of rights equal to those enjoyed by citizens.

A series of amendments have been put forward after the plans were rejected by MEPs in December 2010.

A proposal for a council directive on a single permit and non-EU workers' rights was initially put forward in October 2007.

Posted by Alex Donnell