Ambiguous Mobility

Abstract

This chapter explores how workers navigate the ambiguous institutional landscape of posting and how their practices contribute to incremental institutional change in terms of posted work as a particular mobility regime. It looks at the navigation practices from the perspective of workers who are striving to disambiguate their status, as well as their attempts to figure out both their entitlements and obligations. The chapter shows that both workers’ practices and their perception of posting affect the institutional enactment of posting. In the European Union, the temporary movement of workers within transnational subcontracting chains is omnipresent, and much of this movement resembles and intersects socially, economically, and culturally with posted. The idea of regulatory ambiguity and agentic negotiation, as inherent to the enactment of an institution and its transformation, helps in understanding the everyday functioning and development of posted work. The most significant institutional conversion is brought about by workers’ interactions with trade unions.

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