Fighting precarious work in the EU: Challenges for labour law and possible ways forward

Jointly organised by the Brussels Offices of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour (AK EUROPA) and the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB Europabüro), as well as the ETUC and ETUI.

The rise of precarious employment relationships poses profound challenges for the scope of protection offered by labour law. In particular, various new forms of employment are characterized by blurring boundaries between the concepts of ‘worker’ and ‘self-employed’.

Defining the concept of ‘worker’ is thus of growing importance. A new study by Martin Risak and Thomas Dullinger, which will be presented in the course of the event, develops a European concept of ‘worker’ based on the jurisprudence of the CJEU and explores the possibilities of further adapting it to new forms of employment.

Moreover, the Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions, proposed by the Commission on 21 December 2017, is currently intensively discussed in the Council and the European Parliament and is supposed to deal with questions posed by the changing world of work. With EU decision-makers, academia, high-level trade union representatives and workers concerned we would like to discuss how to fight precarious work and which changes are needed to substantively improve the working conditions of people in the EU.

Renate Anderl, President of Austrian Chamber of Labour

Philippe Pochet, Director of European Trade Union Institute

Presentation
“The concept of ‘worker’ in EU law”

Martin Risak, Professor of Labour Law at University of Vienna

Panel discussion

Esther Lynch, Confederal Secretary of European Trade Union Confederation

Enrique Calvet Chambon, Member of European Parliament

David Gibney, Mandate Trade Union

Josef Muchitsch, Federal Chairman of the Austrian Construction and Wood Workers Union

Moderation

Aline Hoffmann, ETUI, Head of Unit: Europeanisation of Industrial Relations

The discussion will be held in German and English. Following the discussion, we would like to invite you to drinks and buffet snacks.

Please register for the event here