Labour

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Economy 29-05-2024

Workers’ safety is part of EU competitiveness story, says IndustriAll chief

Est. 7min

Europe must create high-road debate around competitiveness and improve workers’ conditions rather than just discussing cutting costs, says Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary at trade union IndustriAll Europe.

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Economy 29-05-2024

European leather sector sees workers’ safety gains, carbon footprint reduction

Est. 6min

Accidents in Europe’s leather sector have decreased in recent years, while new methodologies to assess its lifecycle carbon footprint is helping the industry in its green transition.

Economy 01-05-2024

German Chancellor Scholz, unions hit back at calls for longer working hours, pension reform

Est. 3min

On International Workers’ Day, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD/S&D) and trade union representatives have voiced opposition to calls by business leaders and pro-business parties for longer working hours and to increase the retirement age.

Gig economy 26-04-2024

Bolt lobbying revelations: Estonia official says human error behind missing correspondence

Est. 4min

The omission of emails from the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs to Bolt and other mobility tech firms, demanded in a freedom of information (FOI) request, was due to human error, the Ministry's Deputy Secretary General Sandra Särav told Estonian news agency ERR.

Economy 24-04-2024

Gig-gling at last: EU adopts gig work directive

Est. 3min

The European Parliament overwhelmingly approved a watered-down version of the EU's long-awaited platform work directive at a plenary on Wednesday (24 April), ending two years of intense negotiations with 554 votes in favour and 56 against.

Economy 17-04-2024

Germans must work more to boost weak economy, BDA, Deutsche Bank say

Est. 4min

As the long-term growth potential of the German economy has declined substantially over the past years and decades, longer working hours and later retirement were needed to increase growth, business leaders said on Tuesday (16 April).

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Economy 22-03-2024

Long subcontracting chains foster injustice, says ETUC leader

Est. 5min

Long subcontracting chains lock workers out of rights, and lock injustices in, European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) General Secretary Esther Lynch said during a debate on abusive subcontracting practices in Europe.

Special ReportNewsAdvocacy Lab Content
Economy 15-03-2024

Abusive subcontracting detrimental to all workers, says European trade workers’ union

Est. 9min

When done abusively to cut costs and circumvent regulations, subcontracting is detrimental to both the subcontracted workers and local workforces who end up approaching the negotiating table from weaker positions, says a leading European trade unionist.

Economy 11-03-2024

At long last, EU countries adopt the platform work directive

Est. 4min

EU countries finally adopted the platform work directive at a meeting of EU labour ministers on Monday (11 March), after Estonia and Greece, which had abstained in the past, voted in favour “in the spirit of compromise”.

Gig economy 08-03-2024

In last-minute upset, France pitches new changes to gig work file

Est. 4min

As EU ambassadors were due to meet on Friday (8 March) to try to agree again a provisional deal on the platform work directive, France circulated a set of changes it wants to make to the text, throwing another spanner in the works for the ill-starred file.

Economy 05-03-2024

Germany hopes to stabilise pension system with €200 billion capital stock

Est. 5min

The German government hopes to secure the long-term financing of its pension system with a new capital stock of up to €200 billion, which should be invested in global markets and yield €10 billion annually starting from 2036. 

Agrifood 05-03-2024

New EU forced labour rules to crack down on exploitation in agri-food supply chains

Est. 5min

EU negotiators reached a deal on Tuesday morning (5 March) on a new regulation aiming to ban products linked to forced labour from the bloc’s market, with potential implications for agricultural and food commodities produced in and outside the bloc. 

Gig economy 16-02-2024

Member states slam door shut on gig work directive

Est. 6min

The Belgian Presidency failed to garner the necessary support from member states to agree a new platform work directive on Friday (16 February), effectively shelving the proposal, after more than two years of negotiations.

Gig economy 13-02-2024

Delivery failure: Belgium Presidency’s platform work directive undermines single market

Est. 4min

The latest agreement on the platform work directive brings less legal clarity than the status quo, and fails to give platforms and workers alike harmonised rules and protections across the EU's single market, Tomas Prouza writes for Euractiv.

Competition 09-02-2024

Unions issue ‘urgent’ call for EU industrial policy to respect workers’ rights

Est. 5min

“When we give vast amounts of taxpayers’ money to private industry, we should be ensuring they are creating quality jobs that make this collective investment worthwhile."

Gig economy 08-02-2024

Platform work rulebook hangs by thread ahead of member states’ final nod

Est. 4min

Negotiators from the European Commission, Council and Parliament struck a deal on the Platform Work Directive - for the second time - on Thursday (8 February), with all eyes now on member states, who have been asked to rubberstamp it on Friday.

Economy 06-02-2024

Business leaders blame skills shortage for Europe’s industrial decline

Est. 5min

“We have to make sure that we work on reindustrialisation before our history has disappeared, and that is really why we have to act now."

Gig economy 05-02-2024

Belgium Presidency hopes for 11th-hour deal with watered-down platform work directive

Est. 4min

Following failed interinstitutional negotiations over the platform work directive last week, the Belgium Presidency circulated yet another draft text, which significantly waters down the file’s flagship chapter on the legal presumption of employment.

Gig economy 15-01-2024

Belgian presidency gives platform workers rulebook new try

Est. 4min

The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU has circulated a new draft text of the platform work directive, which should be the basis for technical negotiations among member states on Tuesday (16 January), amid persistent divisions about the directive's scope.

Gig economy 12-01-2024

France leads charge to rewrite platform workers’ rulebook

Est. 6min

Last month, a coalition of EU countries blocked the provisional agreement on the Platform Workers Directive. But while the Belgian EU Council presidency wants to use the political deal as the starting point for future discussion, Paris wants a more comprehensive file reshaping.

Economy 22-12-2023

Member states deal heavy blow to platform work deal

Est. 6min

Member states’ ambassadors failed to find a majority over a platform work directive deal struck last week, dealing a heavy blow to the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU and raising concerns the file may not get through before the end of the mandate.

Economy 21-12-2023

Macron may be ‘killer of Social Europe’, Platform Work Directive rapporteur warns

Est. 5min

Member states must do everything to ensure the Platform Work Directive provisional deal is approved, Parliament file rapporteur Elisabetta Gualmini told Euractiv in an interview, warning that France’s refusal to vote on the text is “unacceptable”.

Economy 15-12-2023

Immigration 101, for the attention of the French

Est. 10min

Welcome to Euractiv’s weekly Economy Brief. You can subscribe to the newsletter here. France's political imbroglio over its immigration bill on Monday has resulted in an ambitious mechanism to grant one-year automatic visas to irregular workers being dropped. …

Gig economy 13-12-2023

EU lawmakers nail down rules for platform workers

Est. 5min

The representatives of the main EU institutions reached a provisional agreement over the Platform Workers Directive in the early hours of Wednesday (13 December) after almost two years of strenuous negotiations.