The European Commission recently launched an evaluation of the 2014 directives which shape the rules around public procurement, the process by which public contracts are put out to tender. 

Trade unions have called for a revision that ensures the inclusion of criteria based on quality, rather than only price. In particular, they have argued that these rules can be used as a tool to improve labour conditions and promote collective bargaining, rather than allowing some employers to be undercut by those who show less respect for workers’ rights and trade union engagement.  

Discussion with Niklas Bruun, professor of law at the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, about his recent paper for the ETUI on how EU public procurement law can be improved. 

Stan De Spiegelaere, Director of Policy and Research at UNI Europa, the trade union federation of service workers, lends some further insight into how the current problems play out on the ground.  

Further reading

Promoting collective bargaining in public procurement | etui

Collective bargaining and public procurement in Germany | etui

Procuring Decent Work - UNI Europa

‘Invest now or deindustrialise’ was the recent, stark warning put to the EU by industrial trade unions.

Continued heavy losses in manufacturing jobs over the past decades are now culminating in what has been termed a crisis for European industry and the many workers it employs.

But how should this crisis be addressed? Is the European Commission taking the right approach with the recently presented Clean Industrial Deal? And what could a worker-friendly European industrial policy look like today?

Discussion with Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary of the industrial workers’ federation ⁠industriAll Europe⁠, and Ludovic Voet, Confederal Secretary at the European Trade Union Confederation.

Further reading

Industrial policy for quality jobs and a just transition | etui

Benchmarking Working Europe 2024 | etui

Green transition and job quality: risks for worker representation | etui

Workers and the climate challenge | etui

The future of the automotive sector | etui

Provisions for social conditionality, employment security and anticipation and management of change in the Clean Industrial Deal 

ETUC calls for adequate financing and responsible simplification in the Clean Industrial Deal | ETUC

Amidst all the current debates in Europe about competitiveness, productivity, migration, and economic transitions – both ‘green’ and ‘digital’ - the ongoing issue of labour shortages has emerged as a major policy concern, intrinsically tied to all of the above.

But what are the major factors driving these shortages? Where do we see them the most? And what kinds of solutions would be the most effective?  

Discussion with ETUI Senior Researcher Wouter Zwysen, author of multiple recent papers on labour shortages, job quality, and workers' bargaining power.

Further reading:

⁠Labour shortages, job quality and workers’ bargaining power | etui⁠

⁠Labour shortages – turning away from bad jobs | etui⁠

⁠Monopsony and non-competitive labour markets | etui⁠

⁠Benchmarking Working Europe 2024 | etui⁠

⁠Wage inequality in Europe | etui

Lowering wage inequality through collectively negotiated minima | etui⁠

⁠Green transition and job quality: risks for worker representation | etui

Industrial policy for quality jobs and a just transition | etui⁠

⁠What are governments doing about low-wage employment – and how successful is it? | etui⁠

⁠Job quality in turbulent times | etui

Security is the watchword across European politics today.

But what is the place for social and environmental policy in a security-conscious, or even security-driven, Europe?

And where does the trade union movement fit in?

Discussion with ETUI Senior Researcher Christophe Degryse about his recent Foresight Brief, ‘What if? A socio-environmental agenda in a 'security Europe'?’

Further reading   

What if? A socio-environmental agenda in a 'security Europe'? | etui

Rethinking social protection in the green transition | etui

Industrial policy for quality jobs and a just transition | etui

Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2023 | etui

The standard 40-hour work week has been around for a while now as our full-time norm. But in recent times, debates about working time reduction appear to have been making somewhat of a comeback – particularly in the form of the 4-day week idea.

Is it time to rethink our working time norms? And what role is

Discussion with Agnieszka Piasna, ETUI Senior Researcher and co-author of the paper ‘Negotiating working time reduction’.

Further reading  

Negotiating working time reduction | etui

‘Winning back our time’, in HesaMag#29, Navigating the AI revolution | etui

Friday on my mind - Working time in the manufacturing sector | etui

The why and how of working time reduction | etui

An anniversary can be a good occasion for reflection.

20 years ago, in 2004, eight central and eastern European countries joined the European Union. Followed by the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007 and Croatia in 2013, these successive enlargements nearly doubled the number of EU Member States. And they came with many hopes for economic and social cohesion, as well as for strengthened industrial relations in the region.

So to what extent have these hopes been met?  

Discussion with Vera Scépanović, lecturer in International Relations and European Studies at Leiden University and co-editor of Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, the ETUI’s quarterly journal published by Sage Publishing.

This conversation is based on the issue of Transfer, ‘20 years after: perspectives on industrial relations in Central and Eastern Europe 20 years after the EU enlargement’.

This year, after a long and embattled process, the EU adopted new rules to improve working conditions on digital labour platforms, particularly regarding employment status and the use of algorithmic management.  

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has called the 2024 Platform Work Directive ‘a policy milestone’ and ‘a testament to the resilience of collective efforts’.  

Discussion with Tea Jarc, ETUC Confederal Secretary, and Silvia Rainone, ETUI Senior Researcher, about what exactly is in the Directive, what it took to get it passed, and what it means for the millions of people working through digital platforms today. 

Further reading  

⁠The EU Platform Work Directive | etui⁠  

⁠Inevitable, vulnerable, unprofitable: an inquiry into food delivery platforms in Europe | etui⁠  

⁠Digital labour platforms and migrant workers | etui⁠  

⁠Exercising workers' rights in algorithmic management systems | etui⁠  

⁠Juggling online gigs with offline jobs | etui⁠  

⁠Collective bargaining in the platform economy | etui⁠  

⁠The platform economy in Europe | etui⁠  

⁠Platform Economy | ETUC⁠ 

The term ‘burnout’ has become a common one in recent times. But are we clear on what it really means and, even more importantly, exactly what causes it? The World Health Organization recently recognised it as an ‘occupational phenomenon’. So what should organisations be doing to prevent burnout or, at the very least, to address it when it does occur amongst their employees? 

Discussion with Evangelia Demerouti, Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at the Eindhoven University of Technology and co-author (with Niels Adaloudis) of the recent ETUI report ‘Addressing burnout in organisations’. 

Further reading

Addressing burnout in organisations | etui 

The fractions and burden of cardiovascular diseases and depression attributable to psychosocial work exposures in the European Union | etui 

Psychosocial risks: a mounting crisis | etui  

Psychosocial risks in the healthcare and long-term care sectors | etui 

Recent years have arguably seen a ‘social turn’ in EU policymaking, with initiatives on minimum wages, pay transparency, platform work, corporate due diligence, and health and safety coming to fruition, amongst many others.

But in this moment of political change and uncertainty, can this 'social paradigm shift' be sustained?

Guests Bart Vanhercke, ETUI Research Director, and Sotiria Theodoropoulou, Head of Unit for 'European economic, employment and social policies', discuss the current state of play.

Further reading:

Benchmarking Working Europe 2024 | etui

Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2023 | etui

Industrial policy for quality jobs and a just transition | etui

Is the European Green Deal really leaving no-one behind? | etui

Dawn of a new era? | etui

The resurgence of the social dimension of the EU raises a number of questions: in what way and to what extent has the EU social dimension indeed been strengthened since the adoption of the EPSR? To what extent are newly adopted social policies actually likely to contribute to improving people’s lives, and in particular the lives of those who face precarious working or living conditions? What explains the broad political support of the centre-left and centre-right for this social turn? 

Find out more in Transfer's latest issue on Social Europe