Lead story
Governments appear less than enthusiastic about the Quality Jobs Act
On 19 October, addressing EU Ministers of Employment, Roxana Mînzatu, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, outlined the content of the Quality Jobs Act. She said that this text, which she will present “by the year end”, aims to be “targeted but not exhaustive”, and to limit itself to areas where EU action can contribute added value.
She set out four such areas:
- The right to disconnect. Digital tools lead to a form of work “where people are constantly connected”. The Commission wants to explore the options for disconnection, “while at the same time recognising the importance of the social partners’ work”.
- Algorithmic management and AI. Innovation must go hand-in-hand with fairness and transparency: respect for workers’ rights, keeping the “human in control” and social dialogue.
- Health and safety in the workplace. Legislation must adapt to new technology and to new ways of working: telework, “technological well-being” and risks linked to outdoor work.
- Subcontracting. This sometimes leads to abusive practices (inadequate wages, workers’ rights being undermined, unfair terms and conditions), especially in subcontracting chains that employ less-skilled workers. The Vice-President assured her audience that the text would be based on the EU acquis; that it would draw on “meticulous” impact assessments; and that it would adhere to the principle of subsidiarity, without increasing the burden on companies, “especially SME”.
26 delegations spoke at the round table session. There is broad support for the principle, but this is accompanied by several virtually unanimous demands – for proportionality, for ensuring there is no duplication of the EU acquis, and for respect for the social partners’ autonomy.
When it comes to algorithmic management, the disagreement relates to the need for specific legislation. Finland, Czechia and France are all calling in the first instance for an assessment of the AI Act, the GDPR and the Platform Work Directive, which includes a chapter on algorithmic management. Austria is the only State that wants the rules of this directive to be extended to all workers. A large majority supports revision of the Workplace and Display Screen Directives, which are now seen as obsolete. Psychosocial and climate risks – especially excessive summertime heat – have been mentioned. The reservations relate to the burden on SME and the role of risk assessments performed by the employer.
Few States dispute the principle of having a right to disconnect. However, some (Spain, Italy, Slovakia, France) want to fix common principles, while others (Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Sweden) consider that this is a matter for domestic social dialogue. Lastly, they all acknowledge the risk of abuse occurring in long subcontracting chains. However, here too, there are two opposing camps: one group (Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Spain) wants to see the principal party holding liability for the full chain, while the other group (France, Italy, Belgium, Estonia, Slovakia) would prefer the existing legislation to be applied and cooperation to be implemented via the European Labour Authority. Poland and Slovakia expressly reject the idea of any restriction on the number of subcontracting levels.
Spain’s Minister of Labour, Yolanda Díaz, appears to be an isolated figure in calling for “more rights and more social cohesion”.
Project
Member States ready to negotiate on the 28th régime: On 23 October, the Council adopted its position on the “28th regime”, a new corporate legal framework that will enable companies to create an “EU Inc.” in just two days, for “a maximum cost of €100” (see press release). This position will act as a mandate for negotiating with Parliament, once the latter has established its own position.
The proposal for a regulation, which the European trade-union movement has denounced as a Trojan horse that will free employers from the constraints of employment law, has been amended by the Council. In Recital 6a, the Council seeks to reassure: the regulation “does not affect, amongst others, individual or collective Union or national employment, taxation, social security or insolvency law”; nor does it affect the rules governing applicable law or jurisdiction regarding individual employment contracts, the posting of workers, or “any […] collective agreements regarding, amongst others, wages, […] working time, working conditions, health and safety […] or dismissal protection”. Recital 16 states that the regulation “does not affect other aspects of worker involvement, such as workers’ information and consultation”. In particular, Article 16 introduces an optional mechanism to prevent this status being used to bypass national worker participation systems: Member States that have such systems will be able to require an EU Inc. created in another Member State and having a branch on their territory to create a subsidiary there when “the average number of employees” in that country “exceeds the second Member State’s employee participation threshold”. This subsidiary will be required to apply the national legislation concerning employee participation. The aim is to avoid the flaws present in the status of European company (SE), which have allowed many German companies to escape the requirements for employee involvement or to freeze the participation level. Lastly, the text restricts the awarding of stock-options to employees of companies with a workforce of less than 750 and a turnover below 150 million euros.
These changes have not convinced the European Trade Union Confederation, which argues that this text “strips out or waters down important safeguards that were in previous drafts” (see press release). For its part, the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers is calling for the construction sector as a whole to be excluded from the regulation. It believes that this legislation is likely to result in a proliferation of opaque subcontracting chains and letterbox companies (see press release).
Legislation
Carcinogens, mutagens and reprotoxic substances: Following in the wake of Parliament (see IR Notes 282), on 19 October, the Council definitively adopted the sixth revision of Directive 2004/37 (CMRD). This fixes new limit values for cobalt, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAC), 1,4-dioxane and isoprene, and adds welding fumes to the list of regulated substances. Member States will have two years to transpose it (see press release).
A single e-declaration portal for posted workers: On 20 October, by a large majority, the European Parliament adopted the proposal for a regulation on a public interface linked to the internal market information system for declaring details of posted workers and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 (see press release). This text has yet to be formally adopted by the Council before it is published in the OJEU.
Social update
MEPs visit Amazon warehouses: On 26 and 27 October, seven MEPs led by Li Andersson, Chair of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, visited a number of Amazon warehouses in Germany and Poland. Li Andersson emphasised that this visit showed how necessary it is for rules on algorithmic management to be included in the Quality Jobs Act (see press release). Agata Wypiór, vice secretary of Amazon’s European Works Council and a Solidarność union leader, told EUobserver that on one of the Polish sites, at Sosnowiec, employees face “constant pressure of being judged, which is very hard to cope with mentally”.
Social update
Joint recommendations for (re)negotiating European Works Council agreements: To coincide with the conference on European Works Council organised by the European Trade Union Confederation on 14 October in Brussels, eight European trade-union federations have published a number of joint recommendations. These are intended to help employee representatives and the trade-union coordinators assisting them renegotiate their agreements in light of the new 2025 directive. In the case of pre-directive agreements concluded before 22 September 1996 (so-called “Article 13” agreements), the federations recommend not starting negotiations before January 2028. These recommendations are supplemented by a checklist that EWCs can use to self-assess their own agreement.
Case law
Time spent on business travel: In a judgment issued on 22 October, the Court of Justice examined the case of an employee who had claimed payment for 31.5 hours of business travel, undertaken outside his normal working hours. His employer refused to treat this as overtime, and a Romanian court referred his case to the ECJ. The Court of Justice was therefore called on to rule whether the journeys undertaken by the employee, on the employer’s instructions and outside normal working hours, to a location that was not his usual place of work, constitute “working time” within the meaning of Directive 2003/88. It notes that the three elements comprising working time, as provided for in Article 2, point 1, of the directive, are met: 1/ the journeys in question, whose destination, mode of transport and itinerary were determined by the employer, are indissociable from the employee’s duties; 2/ the employee was not able to change either the date or destination of these journeys; 3/ he was not at liberty to spend his time as he wished during these journeys. It was not relevant that the work he performed there was not intensive in nature. Unsurprisingly, in line with its previous case law (CJEU, 10 September 2015, Case C-266/14, Tyco; CJEU, 9 October 2025, Case C-110/24, STAS-IV), the Court held that the “time spent by a worker on travelling, including outside their normal working hours, to and from a place of work determined by their employer, other than their fixed or normal place of work, for the purpose of carrying out their work or their duties there, in accordance with the employer’s instructions, must be deemed ‘working time’, within the meaning of this provision”. It is now up to the Romanian court to determine the consequences of this judgment on pay, which is a matter for domestic law.
Sectoral social dialogue
Eliminating harassment and violence: On 21 October, European social partners in the inland waterways sector adopted a Joint declaration on preventing and eliminating violence and harassment in the workplace (see press release).
Across Europe
Italy
Artificial intelligence in the workplace: Legislative decree no. 179 of 7 October 2026, adapting Italian law to the European regulation on AI, entered into force on 23 October. The text oversees the use of AI in workplace relationships. It prohibits employers from basing their decisions on recruiting employees or on changing or terminating their contracts, including disciplinary sanctions and performance assessments, solely on automated processing. The final decision must be made by a natural person, failing which it may be declared null and void. Employees must also be kept informed that these tools are being used, and are entitled, on demand, to be given reasons that they can understand for any decisions concerning them. Employers will also have to include AI’s effects on work organisation in their risk assessments. The CISL trade-union confederation welcomes several steps forward taken here, including an extension of the ban to include performance assessments, something it had been calling for. It also welcomes the new higher cap on sanctions, which is now fixed at 15 million euros or 3% of global turnover. Nevertheless, it considers that several issues still remain to be dealt with, and it expresses regret that the obligation to provide information applies only to fully automated systems, which account for only a small proportion of the tools in use (see press release).
Netherlands
A draft law for self-employed workers: The government has submitted its draft law on self-employed workers for public consultation (see press release). The text seeks to clarify their situation and to cut the numbers of people engaged in bogus self-employed work. It proposes two tests – the first one relating to the worker’s self-employed status (one requirement is that they must have at least three clients), and the second one assessing the degree of autonomy they enjoy in a given employment relationship. If the worker passes both tests, they will be granted a “safety zone” guaranteeing their self-employed status in advance. This law is scheduled to enter into force in 2028. The VCP, FNV and CNV trade-union confederations have criticised the text (see press release). They argue firstly that the government has not shown that the problem the law is intended to solve does actually exist, and secondly that creating an exception to salaried status might deprive some people of the protection provided by labour law. They also believe that the two tests will complicate the issue of self-employed work and are doubtful about the text’s applicability (see press release). Employers’ organisations are somewhat favourably disposed to the proposal, but their support is conditional. Among other things, they want to relax the requirement for a minimum number of clients. The construction industry federation Bouwend Nederland wants to see this number reduced to one, for example (see press release).
Protection for temporary workers: The law on authorising companies to provide workers (Wtta), which enters into force on 1 January 2027, requires these companies to apply for authorisation. To benefit from the transitional regime, they must register between the dates of 1 November and 31 December 2026 (see press release). The government has also submitted a proposed change in the regulations for consultation: from 2027 onwards, the authority responsible for granting authorisations would check that temporary workers are being remunerated at equal or equivalent rates to the user company’s own employees, based on twelve elements making up remuneration, such as wages, overtime rates and allowances for expenses (see press release).
Luxembourg
Measures to help with energy prices kept in place: On 29 October, the government and social partners reached an agreement, within the framework of the tripartite monitoring committee, to extend the main measures designed to help with energy prices for a further twelve months (amendment to the tripartite agreement of 8 June 2026). As a result, the following measures will remain in place throughout 2027: 1/ electricity: a 4 centimes per kWh subsidy for households consuming less than 25,000 kWh per year; 2/ natural gas: compensation of 15 centimes per m³, extended to include LPG; 3/ heating oil: compensation of 15 centimes per litre. On the other hand, the 5 centimes per litre subsidy on fuels will be permanently discontinued on 28 February 2027, a move regretted by the LCGB trade-union confederation (see press release). The OGBL trade-union confederation is pleased that these measures have been extended (see press release), as is the employers’ organisation UEL, which comments that the agreement “constitutes a responsible and vital response to help curb inflation. These measures will boost households’ purchasing power while at the same time cutting business costs” (see press release).
Portugal
Longer parental leave: On 16 October, Parliament adopted a decree increasing the amounts of parental leave available. This vote follows the rejection, in June of this year, of the vast reform of the Labour Code attempted by Luís Montenegro’s government, which concerned rights linked to parenthood, among other things. The new law increases initial parental leave from 120 to 150 days, taken on full pay, even if it is not shared among the parents. The 180 days leave is taken on full pay if each parent takes at least 30 days of it as a continuous block, or on 83% of full pay if they do not. The law also creates an allowance of 210 days leave, taken on 86% of full pay if each parent takes at least 30 days of it as a continuous block, and on 90% of full pay if the father takes at least 60 days of it in addition to his exclusive leave. The father’s compulsory paternity leave remains at 28 days, but 14 days of this will have to be taken just after the child’s birth, as opposed to 7 days at the present time. The father can add a further optional 14 days of leave, to be taken at the same time as the mother. Single-parent families will be entitled to take this extended leave without sharing it. This arrangement extends to parents who are victims of domestic violence, provided three conditions are met: a criminal complaint has been filed; either the victim or the perpetrator has left the family home; and a measure prohibiting contact has been put in place. Parliament has also adopted the continuous working day in the private sector for parents of children aged under 12, if a collective agreement provides for this, or with the employer’s agreement if it does not. The new rules will apply to periods of leave taken from 1 January 2027 onwards.
Company updates
European Works Councils
Condemnation for global wage freeze: The European and Global Works Council of the Volkswagen group (E/WKBR, Europäischer und Welt-Konzernbetriebsrat), chaired by Daniela Cavallo (IG Metall) revealed on 19 October that the group’s Executive Board wants to impose a pay freeze on its entire global workforce, lasting several years (see IG Metall press release). According to the E/WKBR, management put forward its proposal at the end of last week, at an international joint meeting of representation bodies. An instruction sent to the group’s worldwide human resources departments would eliminate any margin for wage rises or inflation adjustments from staff cost budgets, through to 2030. Wages would therefore remain frozen at 2026 levels for four consecutive years. The E/WKBR speaks of a proposal that has “enormous explosive potential” and describes the Executive Board’s actions as “absurd”. It points out that wages and salaries are negotiated on a country-by-country basis, between social partners. The group has refused to comment, describing this story as “speculation”. The announcement comes at a time when wage negotiations are commencing in Germany, both for the Volkswagen company agreement and the metalworking branch agreement, which covers Audi, Porsche and MAN. IG Metall is demanding a 5% increase over twelve months.
EWC gives takeover the thumbs down: On 12 October, the European Works Council of EasyJet delivered an unfavourable opinion on the proposed takeover of the low-cost airline by the US private equity firm Apollo. This opinion appears in the scheme document published on 15 October. The EWC says the operation, as currently structured, is likely to weaken easyJet’s “long-term resilience”. It would also expose European employees to risks that are neither addressed nor mitigated by the assurances given by the buyer. Employee representatives are particularly critical of the employment undertakings given, which are limited to twelve months and non-binding.
Data and reports
Algorithmic management in the EU
On 29 October, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) published a research report on algorithmic management based on data from the 2024 European Working Conditions Survey.
19% of employees say that their performance is monitored by a computer program, 18% that it assigns their tasks to them and 10% that it determines their working hours.
There are marked differences from one country to another: 31% of Belgian employees have their performance monitored by software, compared to 10% in Germany. These three algorithmic management functions are associated with higher job demands, especially quantitative demands, which reflect work intensity. Performance monitoring is the most widespread form of algorithmic management, and is linked to higher demands, fewer resources and poorer health and well-being outcomes, especially for already strained workers. “Safeguards should ensure transparency about what is monitored, how data are used and how decisions are made”, say the authors, who advocate the application of existing laws and social dialogue rather than any specific legislation. While the data on the use of these tools is probably already out of date, the lessons to be learned in terms of their effects on working conditions and employees’ health are still very relevant to the task of preparing the Quality Jobs Act, which the European Commission is due to present by the year end.
Key Statistics
40,7%
of the wealth produced in the EU in 2025 was taken in tax and used to finance public services and social protection, according to the latest Eurostat data, published on 29 October.
This rate, which stood at 40.2% in 2024, is calculated by adding together all taxes and duties (income tax, corporation tax, VAT, etc.) and all social security contributions (pension, sickness, unemployment, etc.). The total is then related to GDP, i.e. the amount of wealth produced in one year. The top-ranked countries are France (46%), Belgium (44.7%), Denmark (44.3%) and Austria (43.9%). Note that this rate will be lower for countries whose supplementary pension or health insurance schemes are privately managed and compulsory but do not form part of public contributions.
Three questions for…
Elisa Staffa
Research Analyst | Economic Analysis Division, at Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)
On the impact of a rise in the minimum wage on prices
“Overall, we concluded that the impact of the minimum wage on prices in general is negligible”
You recently published a study (1) with two colleagues which examined whether increases in the Irish minimum wage have impacted consumer prices. How did you approach this study?
In Ireland, the minimum wage increases annually, with the Low Pay Commission making recommendations to the government regarding these rises. We analysed eight minimum wage increases that have taken place since 2016, examining data from the Central Statistics Office on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) covering a period of several years. We identified price categories that could be linked to sectors and occupations that rely heavily on minimum-wage workers, such as hairdressing, takeaway coffee and food outlets, and hotels. We identified these goods and services, which are closely linked to the minimum wage, and observed how their prices changed over time compared with all other prices. Finally, we estimated the impact of the annual minimum wage increase on this type of price.
Did you find that increases in the minimum wage impacted prices?
In fact, we observed no impact on the prices of these goods for seven of the eight minimum wage increases, which in this case ranged from 1% to 6%. However, in 2024, when the minimum wage increased by 12.4%, the largest increase ever recorded, we did observe an impact on prices, with hairdressing, takeaway meals/coffee and restaurant meals costing 2.5% more. We also attempted to estimate what the figure would have been had the minimum wage not increased, by recalculating the CPI. We found that whilst the actual CPI was 1.8%, the recalculated CPI was 1.5%. Overall, after doing all these calculations, we concluded that the impact of the minimum wage on prices in general – and on the overall CPI – is negligible, as these goods, closely linked to the minimum wage, account for only around 11 per cent of the total CPI.
Did you also assess the impact on employment?
This was not the focus of this study, but we recently published a study examining the effects on employment over the last few years. It found no negative impact on employment in Ireland, though we did observe a slight reduction in hours worked.
(1) « The impact of a minimum wage increase on prices », ESRI Research Series, 22 September 2026.
IR Dictionary
Extension of collective bargaining agreements
An extension enables a collective agreement to be extended to employees and companies who are not affiliated to the signatory organisations, be they trade unions or employers’ organisations. It ensures that working conditions are the same across an entire sector, not just at the companies that have signed up to it, thereby limiting wage competition and supporting collective bargaining. Two levels can be distinguished:
- Company-wide, its application erga omnes (“to everyone”) extends the agreement to non-unionised employees. Even in countries where an agreement is legally binding only on members of signatory trade unions (Germany, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Sweden), employers will usually apply the same terms and conditions to the entire workforce.
- Sector-wide, an extension, which is usually decided on by the authorities, requires companies that are not members of the signatory employers’ organisation to abide by the agreement.
Directive 2022/204 obliges Member States to promote collective bargaining. States whose collective bargaining coverage is below 80% must adopt an action plan to increase this level. This text has relaunched the extension debate in several countries: extension is one of the most direct ways of increasing coverage.
Upcoming Events
19 November
Paris
Industrial relations in Spain
As part of its European tour on industrial relations, the Dialogues association is organising a morning session on Spain with Valérie Parra Balayé, confederal secretary for international policy and European relations officer at the UGT (see Contact).
The team
This edition has been prepared by Inès Bollet, Victoria Fonseca, Ambre Grenier-Boley, Frédéric Turlan and Paula Villalobos. You can read about everyone in the IR Share team on our website.
To find out more about the IR Share team, please consult our website, LinkedIn or IR Notes.
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Revenue from taxes and social contributions in 2025
European social update