2.2.1.

Seasonal workers . At present, seasonal labour mobility from one MS to another, in addition to carrying an additional risk to workers’ health due to the pandemic, entails a reduced ability to ensure their safety due to their lack of knowledge and awareness of the host country’s labour law. The EURES network, which focuses on jobseekers, needs to rethink its way of working and ensure the highest possible level of awareness of guarantees regarding the rights, working conditions and status of this group of workers in a pandemic. Any worker who chooses to work in a country other than their own and who makes this choice using the network must be informed in advance by the EURES teams, in a comprehensible manner, of the precise terms and conditions, as well as the specific health measures, that will be guaranteed to them and their family when entering employment in another MS. Liability for failure to comply with the proposed sanitary and health conditions must also be defined in a unambiguous manner. The EESC therefore considers it urgent to assess whether Regulation (EU) 2016/589 is capable of responding to the current challenges and specific needs of the European labour market, and whether it should be revised. Seasonal workers, given the nature of their employment, are among the most vulnerable cross-border workers and the protection of their rights should be reviewed both in a situation of constraints due to epidemic measures, natural disasters or other force majeure circumstances and, in general, after the normalisation of public and economic life. EURES should, through its advisers in the Member States, provide daily updates on measures taken in each MS that concern the rights and obligations of the workforce in a pandemic situation, including treatment options and conditions when health problems occur. Publications on the e-portal . At present, seasonal labour mobility from one MS to another, in addition to carrying an additional risk to workers’ health due to the pandemic, entails a reduced ability to ensure their safety due to their lack of knowledge and awareness of the host country’s labour law. The EURES network, which focuses on jobseekers, needs to rethink its way of working and ensure the highest possible level of awareness of guarantees regarding the rights, working conditions and status of this group of workers in a pandemic. Any worker who chooses to work in a country other than their own and who makes this choice using the network must be informed in advance by the EURES teams, in a comprehensible manner, of the precise terms and conditions, as well as the specific health measures, that will be guaranteed to them and their family when entering employment in another MS. Liability for failure to comply with the proposed sanitary and health conditions must also be defined in a unambiguous manner. The EESC therefore considers it urgent to assess whether Regulation (EU) 2016/589 is capable of responding to the current challenges and specific needs of the European labour market, and whether it should be revised. Seasonal workers, given the nature of their employment, are among the most vulnerable cross-border workers and the protection of their rights should be reviewed both in a situation of constraints due to epidemic measures, natural disasters or other force majeure circumstances and, in general, after the normalisation of public and economic life. EURES should, through its advisers in the Member States, provide daily updates on measures taken in each MS that concern the rights and obligations of the workforce in a pandemic situation, including treatment options and conditions when health problems occur. Publications on the e-portal ( 3 ) relating to the rights of seasonal workers are a good basis for building on this type of information. It is necessary to develop safeguards for this group of workers, which should be subject to publicly available monitoring. The EESC recommends that services aimed at seasonal workers be considered and made subject to the requirements of Directive 2014/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 4 ) , as well as the Communication from the Commission on Guidelines on seasonal workers in the EU in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak ( 5 )