‘We are not yet seeing the waves of redundancies that are feared’, European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde said, but stressed Europe was benefitting for AI-productivity gains on a par with the US and China.
Brussels’ drive to cut digital “burdens” is spilling into labour law. A recent paper by lobby group BusinessEurope calls for a sweeping “labour market omnibus” to reduce obligations under EU social law, raising fears that competitiveness rhetoric could undermine workers’ rights and weaken Europe’s social model.
As Europe’s baby boomers enter retirement, experts agree that reforms are needed to ensure the sustainability of European pensions. However, there is considerable debate on which reforms should be implemented and how they impact elderly poverty and pension inequality.
Europe debates shorter workweeks as Poland pilots a four-day model without pay cuts, following mixed experiences and perspectives from the UK, France, Spain, Lithuania and Greece, balancing productivity, wellbeing and competitiveness concerns.
Influential. Investigative. Independent. EUobserver is a online non-profit news outlet reporting on the European Union.
The argument is that Europe underperforms in tech and biotech because it is “too expensive” to fire people.
That may sound intuitively appealing but it is profoundly misleading.
Some European countries are already testing the four-day workweek, and the results are in higher productivity, happier employees, and less burnout. But while some are working less, others are working more, like in Greece, where a six-day workweek has been introduced in certain sectors.
The EU Commission presented its strategy for better jobs in the bloc on Thursday — but until the the Quality Jobs Act is published, unions and NGOs are on the fence about it.
What distinguishes the current review is its conceptual ambition — floating the idea of ending lifelong civil-service status for new hires, a move that, if extended to the whole institution, would signal a shift from a permanent, independent bureaucracy to a flexible, temporary workforce aligned with shifting political priorities, warns Alberto Alemanno.
Even after discussions and negotiations dating back to 2008, member states in the European Council couldn’t come to a unanimous position on the planned EU equal treatment directive.
Influential. Investigative. Independent. EUobserver is a online non-profit news outlet reporting on the European Union.
Amazon workers in over 30 countries are striking this ‘Black Friday’ weekend, demanding fair wages, union rights, and environmental accountability. The “Make Amazon Pay” campaign marks its sixth year of turning the retail giant’s busiest sales period into a global day of protest.
Belgian unions began a three-day general strike on Monday, bringing public transport to a near standstill in a demand for the government to abandon plans to cut pensions, raise the retirement age, and slash unemployment benefits.
Spain’s 2021 ‘Rider Law’ reclassified food couriers as employees, in a landmark for gig-worker rights. But despite progress, riders such as Fernando García in Madrid, and others in the EU, still face an uphill struggle.
The EU Parliament’s employment committee is to wave through a new directive to protect workers from algorithmic management – a move welcomed by their advocates.
The proposed rollback of the EU’s corporate accountability rules will significantly weaken their ability to address labour violations within the EU, experts and labour union representatives told EUobserver.
The new EU programme for the military industry contains a little-discussed regulation to override workers’ rights and environmental protection whenever an undefined defence security of supply crisis is declared, warn Left MEPs Marc Botenga and Ozlem Demirel.
Women are more likely than men to suffer from evolutions in the workplace, as they are underrepresented in digital and green jobs.
MEPs want to end unfair traineeships, triggering backlash from small businesses who warn the rules will strangle opportunity. But the real fight is yet to come: trilogues where the EU parliament and member states will have to find a compromise in what promises to be a tough negotiation over labour rights of Europe’s next generation.
The Global Rights Index for 2025 shows that conditions for European workers are the worst since the index started monitoring labour rights back in 2014.