European Labour Authority
Seasonal Work

Cross-border seasonal workers are a group of mobile workers who retain their main place of residence in their home country and move temporarily to another Member State to carry out an activity dependent on the passing of the seasons.  

Cross-border seasonal work is most common the agri-food and touristic sectors and it reflects the opportunities given by the EU Internal Market. Workers exercise their free movement rights to look for a job in another Member States, while employers fill shortages in local labour supply for seasonal activities by recruiting from other Member States.  

However, the Covid19 pandemic has amplified the existing risks for these workers, especially in the agricultural sector, in terms of health and safety, precariousness of working and living conditions, and exposure to fraud and abuse.  

At the same time, employers have faced recruitment difficulties due to health measures impacting on smooth workers’ mobility, which risk disrupting the ordinary flow of economic activities.  

ELA is mobilizing a wide range of resources encompassing information and enforcement activities aiming at supporting extensive cooperation and encouraging the take-up of initiatives with a holistic approach.

Activities

ELA aims at fulfilling is coordination and support mission to enforce EU labour mobility legislation, under the strategic and policy guidance of the Commission. 

Projects

2022 | Mutual learning/exchange event on information provision related to the free movement of workers.

Pilot project on transnational seasonal work in Europe promoted by ELA. 

Aims of the project: 

  • facilitate the exchange of experiences and good practices in the dissemination of information on fair free movement related to seasonal work (including the tools used). 
  • share effective networking experiences in the information and communication of fair labour mobility in seasonal work. 

The project idea stems from the need to build a community of practice based on the exchange of good experiences and practices related to seasonal work, with interactive sessions and working groups dedicated to explore the following issues: 

  • Information tools for communicating fair mobility - campaigns on seasonal work in Europe - comparing, cross-referencing and evaluating the information available through the channels established by the EU. 
  • Sharing good practices in the dissemination of fair mobility information through bilateral cooperation between member states. 
  • Fair mobility information strategies activated by cross-border seasonal worker communities. Online and offline networking tools for targeted and effective information and communication. 
  • Promoting information tools accessible and usable by seasonal workers/employers for equitable mobility. 

Participants: 10 member states join this first edition (Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain). Sixty experts representing the respective national institutions and EURES National Coordination Offices (NCOs) of the participating states will take part in the events organized in autumn 2022.

Events/Workshops: the proposed format for all events will be a combination of reports by experts, storytelling by testimonials (workers/entrepreneurs), interactive and plenary sessions.  

  • 18 October 2022 - Venice  
  • 8 November 2022 - Sofia 
  • 25-25 January 2023 - Bratislava 

The medium- and long-term goal of this round of meetings is to build up and expand in 2023/2024 the number of member states participating in the Community of Practice created through the pilot project, reaching a wider audience, expanding the sectors involved in the area of seasonal work.  

Communication

2021 | Rights for All Seasons – Campaign on Seasonal Workers 

To raise the awareness of seasonal workers and the employers hiring them on existing rights, obligations and counselling services, in 2021 the European Labour Authority has launched the information campaign “Rights for all seasons”, in partnership with the European Commission, the EURES network, the European Platform tackling undeclared work, EU countries and social partners.

Discover more content of the #Rights4AllSeasons campaign.

Information for seasonal workers and employers

Do you want to know more about your rights and obligations as a seasonal worker? Or as an employer hiring seasonal workers?

Click on the country of your interest on the interactive map below.

Find further down under materials: more information for seasonal workers and employers.

Interactive map

Materials

Seasonal work - ELA guide for employers [infographic] 
BG - CS - DA - DE - EL - EN - ES - ET - FI - FR - GA - HR - HU - IT - LT - LV  - MT - NL - PL - PT - RO - SK - SL - SV

Rights for All Seasons Campaign resources:

EU-OSHA | Seasonal work: know your rights and stay safe and healthy at work (EN) [flyer]

EU-OSHA | Seasonal work in the EU: know your rights (EN) [infographic]

Engage

Call for Good Practices 2022

ELA is launching a Call for Good Practices as part of the good practice collection exercise with the aim to collect good practice examples on various areas in which ELA is operational.  ELA will promote the exchange, dissemination and uptake of good practices and knowledge collected among Member States. ELA also collects good practices within the Undeclared Work framework.

The Call for Good Practices 2022 has the following priorities:

  • Thematic focus on Road transport
  • Thematic focus on Seasonal Work

Go to the Call for Good Practices

EURES

EURES as a free online job-matching service offers a big variety of seasonal jobs. For more information visit eures.ec.europa.eu, where you can learn about this European cooperation network of employment services, designed to facilitate the free movement of workers.