Social dialogue and social policies

The EU-UK TCA goes beyond the diluted, and at times tokenistic, protection of multilateral labour standards contained in the other FTAs concluded by the EU, e.g. with countries like Canada or South Korea. However, the few additional labour clauses it contains, and the overall weak supervision and dispute resolution procedures applying to them... Find out more

The lockdown and other restrictive measures introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic recession have had a strong impact on labour markets worldwide. As far as the European Union (EU) is concerned, the accelerated fall in total employment was the ‘sharpest decline ever observed over two successive quarters since 1995’... Find out more

Policy recommendations The Covid-19 pandemic has affected women disproportionately and is likely to have adverse effects on gender equality. It is essential that efforts to promote gender equality be increased in order to ensure that hard-won progress in this area is not reversed. As part of this effort, the European Commission should table a... Find out more

The Rana Plaza tragedy demonstrated the need to regulate companies which use subsidiaries, subcontractors and suppliers to carry out underpaid work, without consideration for core humanitarian principles, including trade union and workers’ rights. Structures permitting companies to profit from such abusive practices should be replaced by a... Find out more

All chapters of Social policy in the EU: state of play 2020 consider the consequences of the unfolding public health crisis. Covid‑19’s hijacking of the book had important implications for the contributors, whom we asked not only to analyse key developments in the EU social agenda during 2019 but also to describe the initial Covid‑19-driven EU and... Find out more