Most European Union nations on Tuesday welcomed a breakthrough on so-called posted workers who are often cheap labor from Eastern Europe working temporarily in richer EU countries.

The deal ensures that the workers will be paid in line with the host country's laws and practices. Now posted workers from nations like Romania and Poland must earn at least the minimum wage of the host country, but that still often is less than the wages guaranteed by collective agreements between unions and firms.

Critics of the current regulations, which took effect in 1996, years before a large chunk of the former communist bloc joined the EU, say it gives Eastern European service providers an unfair advantage over Western companies because their wage and social security costs are lower.

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