RUFFERT C-346/06: circumstances of the case
The Rüffert case did not involve collective action, nor a union. The ECJ decision, which came out on the 3 April 2008, followed the approach adopted in Viking and Laval and supported the right of a Polish subcontractor operating in Germany to pay construction workers 46.5% of the wage that German workers were entitled to. This was in spite of German law enabling the public authority in Lower Saxony to require that a contractor must ensure that workers were paid fair wages in line with relevant collective agreements.
Again Article 49 EC and the freedom for the Polish subcontractor to provide services were considered and the ECJ said that this freedom could be restricted for the protection of workers. However the law of Lower Saxony did not of itself provide for a minimum wage or the universal application of collective agreements following the approach in the Posting of Workers Directive, so that it did not amount to minimum standards protected by the PWD. The Polish company’s obligations under German law and the contract were unenforceable.
