IR Notes

On 4 December, the European Commission published a Communication on a Quality Jobs Roadmap in preparation for the Quality Jobs Act, which is due to be unveiled in late 2026. This communication is quite disappointing, as it repeats some of the language already used, without giving any details regarding the Commission’s intentions. Nor does it say which instruments the Commission plans to mobilise. Instead, it merely states that the act “may be accompanied by non-legislative initiatives and will take into account the diversity of national systems”. While the Commission points out, in the area of business restructuring, that it has committed “to discuss with social partners a framework for fair transitions, anticipating change, quicker intervention, and implementing the information and consultation framework”, what is new in this communication is the expression of a desire to re-examine current legislation. Thus the Commission is planning to launch a study of business restructuring practices, to check whether “applicable rules allow startups, scaleups and innovative companies to adapt and innovate”, and to gather evidence “on the implementation of the directives on information and consultation, collective redundancies and transfers of undertakings”. This is an astonishing step, given that a “fitness check” had already been performed in 2013. Is the Commission planning to embark on a process of simplification and deregulation in the area of labour law, or is it planning to move in the direction of the European Parliament, which is calling for stronger information and consultation rights as part of the green and digital transitions?  In short, the communication fails to clarify the purpose of this law, even though it is the outcome of “an unprecedented consultation process with social partners”, conducted between April and June 2025. At the same time, the Commission has also launched the first phase of another consultation of social partners, the results of which might be incorporated into the Quality Jobs Act. The document lists a number of areas of intervention with potential EU actions: 1/ Algorithmic management and artificial intelligence at work, aimed at “strengthening workers’ protection, including by building on the principle of human in control, fostering trust and transparency, ethical limits and proportionality, and promoting enhanced social dialogue”; 2/ Occupational health and safety, including psychosocial risks and telework-related risks; 3/ Subcontracting, with EU action “targeted to sectors where data shows risks of fraudulent practices”; 4/ Just transitions: among other things, to ensure early and appropriate involvement of workers in companies’ decisions and promotion of collective bargaining and social dialogue; 5/ Application of EU law and involvement of social partners, to make sure that existing rules are followed, including by ensuring “sufficient […] effectiveness of inspections”. Nevertheless, each time an action is mentioned, the Commission adds wording that implies taking precautions, such as “without imposing unnecessary additional burden” or “while not creating additional requirements or unnecessary restrictions” or “simplifying the legislation”, to demonstrate that it is fully aware of the prevailing mood, deregulation and the Omnibus directives. In all of these areas, the Commission is asking the social partners whether it has correctly identified the issues in play; whether EU action would be appropriate; and lastly, whether they would be ready to negotiate on these subjects.

European Works Council Directive : Directive 2025/2450 of 26 November 2025 amending Directive 2009/38/EC as regards the establishment and operation of European Works Councils and the effective enforcement of transnational information and consultation rights, was published in the OJEU on 11 December. Member States will have until 1 January 2028 to transpose the directive’s provisions into their domestic law. However, the aim of simplifying EU legislation has been abandoned amid the twists and turns of seeking a compromise that will allow the directive to be adopted. Firstly, the directive provides for its application to be deferred to 2 January 2029, meaning that Member States will have two years to transpose measures that will be applied one year after that deadline. However, needless to say, there are a number of exceptions: the provisions transposing Article 1, points 12) and 13) will come into effect earlier, on 2 January 2028. They concern the deletion of Article 14 of the 2009 directive and the introduction of an article 14a, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3. In other words, from 2 January 2028 onwards, workers’ representatives (or central management) will be entitled to request or initiate the renegotiation of an agreement that does not yet cover all of the obligatory elements required to feature in a European Works Council agreement under the revised Article 6, i.e. format of meetings, financial and material resources, including, at the very least, recourse to experts and provision of training to members. This derogation is explained by recital 34: It “is possible that European Works Council agreements concluded […] before the transposition of this Directive” – i.e. before 1 January 2028 – “do not address the requirements for the content of those agreements as amended by this Directive. It is therefore appropriate to provide for transitional arrangements enabling the parties to such agreements to amend their agreements”. So what is the purpose of the one-year delay postponing application of the directive’s other provisions? Recital 33 provides the answer, namely that it is intended “to give employees’ representatives and central management […] sufficient time to consider the revised minimum requirements and to prepare for their application”, i.e. items such as the new definitions of consultation, the transnational nature of a project and managing confidential information.

Omnibus directive : On 9 December, the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement aimed at simplifying corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements. Unsurprisingly, the agreement adopts the broad outlines of the report adopted by Parliament on 13 November (see IR Notes 262), by deregulating the rules set by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CS3D) directives. The scope of application of these two directives has been heavily cut back: the due diligence requirements will now only apply to companies with more than 5,000 employees and a minimum turnover level. The remaining number of companies required to comply with these directives is now only just over 1,000 (i.e. 70% fewer than the initial scope of application). The agreement also goes further than Parliament’s report, firstly by postponing the deadline for transposition of the CS3D for a further year, by fixing this at 26 July 2028 – companies will have to comply with the new measures by July 2029 – and secondly, by abolishing the requirement for companies to draw up a transition plan for climate change mitigation. For its part, the CSRD directive, which previously covered 46,450 companies, will now apply to only 4,792 of them. So, we have a 90% ‘simplification’! In the end, the directive will apply to fewer companies than its predecessor, which imposed non-financial reporting obligations on some 11,700 companies. This agreement, which has been formally approved by the Council and Parliament, was endorsed by Parliament on 16 December this week (428 votes in favour, 218 against and 17 abstentions), opening the way to the directive’s publication in the OJEU (see Council press release). Andreas Rasche, Professor and Associate Dean at Copenhagen Business School, offers this warning: “Seeing both regulations only as cost drivers and framing them as a competitive disadvantage may appease populist sentiments, but it is not a winning strategy for the future of Europe.”

Accompanying transitions : On 3 December, by a large majority (42 votes in favour, 12 against and 2 abstentions), MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs adopted a resolution for a directive to protect workers within the framework of the green and digital transitions. The resolution, whose compromise amendments are yet to be incorporated, will be submitted in January, for adoption at Parliament’s plenary session. Within three months, the European Commission will then have to either specify what measures it plans to take, or justify its refusal to put forward a legislative initiative. The resolution calls for “a dedicated framework to anticipate and manage change through the mandatory and timely information and consultation of workers and their representatives, social dialogue and collective bargaining on the design of just transition measures and mechanisms”. The text calls for an individual right to training for workers during working hours and highlights “the need for protecting the mental health and psychosocial well-being of workers during transitions” with measures to be “integrated into company-level transition plans”.

European Skills Guarantee : On 27 November, the European Commission launched an initial skills guarantee pilot scheme, with a budget of 14.5 million euros. This initiative focuses on workers from the automotive industry, ranging from manufacturers through to subcontractors in the supply chain, who are at risk of losing their job (see press release). The Commission has published a call for proposals to fund schemes designed to accelerate and improve the transition of these workers to jobs in strategic growing or emerging sectors, by offering targeted upskilling and redeployment programmes. The IndustriAll Europe trade-union federation points out that it has consistently called for “anticipatory measures that protect workers through quality training instead of leaving them to bear the cost of industrial change”. The federation notes with satisfaction that this plan “offers exactly that” (see press release).

Education : On 2 December, European social partners in the education sector concluded a European autonomous framework agreement on telework and the right to disconnect. Although cross-industry negotiations on this subject have failed, this agreement establishes common principles governing telework and recognises that all workers have a right to disconnect. It’s a voluntary and non-binding agreement that can act as a basis for discussions and negotiations at national or local level.

Telecommunications : On 13 November, European social partners in the telecommunications sector adopted a joint declaration on artificial intelligence, updating the 2020 agreement to take account of changes in legislation (the AI Act) and progress in the fields of generative and agentic AI. This text is intended to be a template for establishing a flexible framework for working towards ethical and responsible AI. It calls for “meaningful social dialogue — based on continuous, transparent communication and information” with a view to “gaining the trust of the employees and to facilitating AI adoption”. Among other things, the declaration states that AI systems should be as transparent as possible for employees, so that they can understand both how their data is used, and how decisions affecting them are taken.

Collective bargaining cycle : According to the Hans Böckler Foundation, a vast cycle of wage negotiations covering around 10 million employees will commence in 2026, when several collective labour agreements expire between December 2025 and November 2026 (see press release). By way of comparison, the 2025 wave was far less consequential: new agreements covering around 6.3 million employees have been concluded so far this year. Details of forthcoming negotiations covering many different sectors, such as the chemical industry (February), retailing (March) and the metalworking industry (October), which covers 3.7 million employees, are set out in a table.

Pension reform : The Bundestag has passed the pensions bill provided for in the federal government coalition agreement (see press release). Chancellor Friedrich Merz has also announced a global reform in 2026, based on recommendations made by a committee. The new measures should encourage people to work beyond their pension age, and will take better account of the shared contributions made to a child’s education. The DGB trade union confederation has supported these measures (see press release).
(Photo: Steffen Kugler)

Minimum wage : Following a consultation on 16 October 2025 with social partners, who failed to reach a consensus on how far to raise the minimum wage, the government has proposed that this wage should be fixed at 1,050 euros gross on 1 January 2026, i.e. an increase of 80 euros on 2025. The Croation Employers’ Association (CEA) points out that the minimum wage has risen by 92% since 2019, i.e. three times faster than the EU average and 60% faster than in the Central and Eastern European zone. For their part, trade-union leaders have argued that the minimum wage was already below the poverty threshold, whereas companies’ net profits rose by 112% between 2019 and 2024, compared to a 54% rise in the average net wage (see more detailed article).

Violence and harassment : The government has amended several pieces of legislation (Law no. 319/2006, Law no. 53/2003 and Law no. 108/1999) to introduce obligations requiring employers to take steps to prevent and tackle violence and harassment at work, in order to ensure compliance with ILO Convention 190 on the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work. Obligations requiring employers to protect victims are among the changes introduced. As a result, in the event of an imminent and serious danger to their life, health or security, employees can ask the employer to make temporary changes to their place of work or the type of work they do. If these adaptations cannot be made, including scenarios where telework is not a viable option, the employer will have to grant them paid leave days (see press release).

Call for negotiation : Sanofi’s global trade union network met in Paris on 10 and 11 December. The event brought together more than 50 workers’ representatives from countries around the world where the group is present. The network, which was established nearly 10 years ago, is now calling for social dialogue to be conducted within a global structure, “preferably framed through a Global Framework Agreement” (see press release).

Trade union network created : At a meeting held in Paris on 9 and 10 December, a global trade union network was established for the first time within the British pharmaceutical group GSK. The new global trade union network, which is coordinated by IndustriAll Global Union, will initiate “discussions with GSK on establishing a Global Trade Union Works Council, as part of a comprehensive global industrial relations strategy” (see press release).