One of the hallmarks of the European Union (EU) Member States’ social protection systems, unlike that of other regions in the world, is the right to income protection in case of sickness. To differing extents, all EU countries provide three types of arrangements in case of sickness: a) sick leave; b... Find out more

Are foreign multinational companies more or less likely than domestically-owned firms to recognise trade unions and engage seriously in collective bargaining? On the face of it, a multinational company is in a stronger position relative to employees as it can play off one group against another. On... Find out more

The European Central Bank (ECB) is a special, even unique central bank. It is a central bank without a treasury by its side or a state behind it, just as the euro, Europe’s common currency that the ECB is tasked with guarding, is a ‘denationalised’ currency. The euro area is a rare exception to the... Find out more

This volume is the 20th anniversary edition of Social policy in the EU: state of play. Coordinated by Cécile Barbier and Philippe Pochet, the first edition covered the year 1999 and was published as a collaborative project between the European Social Observatory (OSE) and the European Trade Union... Find out more

Letterbox companies are legal entities set up by businesses to benefit from a regulatory framework in a jurisdiction in which they have little or no material operations. They enable ‘regime shopping’ for lower taxes, wages, labour standards and social contributions, as well as for different legal... Find out more

For many years, in most European countries, the public sector has been under pressure to reduce expenditure and increase efficiency. Long-term pressures on the public sector, and especially the recent austerity drives following from the crisis, have led to reforms and cuts in public budgets with... Find out more

The newly developed Leeds Index of Platform Labour Protest provides an overview of the developments in platform worker organisation and mobilisation on a global scale. Its findings so far reveal that: The main cause globally for labour protest is pay, with considerable geographical variation when it... Find out more

The European Commission published a consultation document with a view to take legislative action to establish fair minimum wages in Europe. In this policy brief, the researchers argue for a pragmatic approach of taking the ‘in-work-poverty-wage’ threshold of 60 per cent of the national full-time... Find out more

Starting from the view that the crises in the euro zone were basically triggered by financial markets and reinforced by a lack of instruments for effective economic policy at the EMU level (Economic and Monetary Union), this working paper contributes to the ongoing debate on how to reform the... Find out more

This working paper presents the results of the ETUI Internet and Platform Work Survey conducted in Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia in 2018-2019. The objective is to map the extent of digital labour in central and eastern Europe (CEE) based on the analysis of two types of online... Find out more