Europe’s top trade unionist on Thursday warned European Union policymakers that protectionism, economic nationalism and labour discontent would grow unless they improved pay rates for EU workers employed outside their home countries.

In an interview with the Financial Times, John Monks, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, called for a review of the EU’s 1999 posted workers directive, which he said did too little to stop some employers from paying lower wages to workers hired from abroad than to local staff.