Collective bargaining for the self-employed: Commission consultation

 

According to the European Commission inception impact assessment on collective bargaining for the self-employed, issued on January 2021, while services provided via digital labour platforms have opened up new opportunities, people working through platforms are often not involved in the determination of the price of their services and may lack the individual bargaining power to negotiate their terms and conditions.

The objective of the initiative is to possibly modify the current EU Law Competition rules, in order for the working conditions of the solo self-employed to be able to be negotiated via collective bargaining. Either a Communication or a Council Recommendation might be proposed by the European Commission by Q2 2022.

HOTREC believes that subsidiarity should prevail on the topic and that this is not an area suitable for harmonisation (as it pertains to wages and terms of employment). In fact, a change in the current EU competition rules could be a disadvantage for both the self-employed as well as their employers/undertakers.