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Nicola Countouris

Nicola Countouris is professor of labour and European law at University College London.

Amazon’s office mandate: The hidden power play behind workplace control

Nicola Countouris and Valerio De Stefano

Amazon’s office mandate exposes workplace power dynamics and the need to rethink employer control.

Social Europe needs a new concept of ‘worker’

Nicola Countouris, Valerio De Stefano and John Hendy

The distinction between employed and self-employed is becoming incoherent and outdated.

Platform-work directive: the clock is ticking

Antonio Aloisi, Silvia Rainone and Nicola Countouris

The ‘gig’-economy directive, a critical legacy of social rights from this EU term, is being held up by some member states.

Reconstruction: time for transformative ideas

Kalina Arabadjieva, Nicola Countouris, Bianca Luna Fabris and Wouter Zwysen

As the world inches back to normality, the Covid-19 crisis highlights deep structural inequalities and the urgent need for bold, systemic solutions to tackle climate change, social injustice, and economic precarity.

Europe needs a social compass

Esther Lynch, Nicola Countouris and Philippe Pochet

Europe is undergoing multiple transitions. For these to succeed, social dialogue to build consensus will be essential.

Making labour law fit for all those who labour

Nicola Countouris, Mark Freedland and Valerio De Stefano

EU anti-discrimination law applies to all ‘personal work’—not just employment contracts—the Court of Justice has ruled.

Working from a distance: remote or removed?

Nicola Countouris and Valerio De Stefano

Remote work will outlast the pandemic. But workers must be inoculated against the risks.

The Metaverse is a labour issue

Valerio De Stefano, Antonio Aloisi and Nicola Countouris

The Metaverse has been talked about only in terms of gee-whiz technologies.

Regulating digital work: from laisser-faire to fairness

Nicola Countouris

The proposal for an EU directive on platform work about to emerge is welcome, yet insufficient—and no substitute for national action.

Structural solutions for structural inequalities—a trade union perspective

Luca Visentini, Nicola Countouris and Philippe Pochet

Responses to the pandemic have upended the idea that ‘there is no alternative’ to macroeconomic policies engendering widening inequality.

The ‘long Covid’ of work relations and the future of remote work

Nicola Countouris and Valerio De Stefano

The pandemic made us all familiar with ‘social distancing’. Employers are starting to glimpse a future where ‘contractual distancing’ is normalised.

Collective-bargaining rights for platform workers

Nicola Countouris and Valerio De Stefano

The pioneering Danish collective agreement on platform-based domestic workers has been vitiated by a misguided ruling by its competition authority.

ETUI advertisement

HESA Magazine Cover

Back to school with HesaMag 30: the leading European magazine on occupational safety and health explores teachers’ deteriorating working conditions. With field reporting, expert voices and trade union analysis, plus insights into EU policy shifts, discover why teachers’ health is key to our future.

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Eurofound advertisement

Mental Health
Eurofound Brussels Briefing on Mental Health in the EU

As part of its #BrusselsBriefings series, Eurofound is hosting an off-the-record session on 9 December dedicated to its recent research on mental health.
Eurofound expert Hans Dubois will present the latest findings drawing on comparative data, exploring how crises such as the Great Recession and COVID-19 have shaped mental-health outcomes, how different risk groups are evolving, and why social and economic conditions remain central drivers of poor mental health in EU countries.
REGISTER HERE TO ATTEND IN PERSON

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

Progressive Post Issues

The Autumn-Winter issue of The Progressive Post is out!”

Among this issue’s highlights, we debate war and defence, underlining the urgent necessity of peace. We look at the European Commission's budget proposal, particularly the fate of the cohesion funds, and at the EU's international partnerships and ask whether the EU can pursue its strategic interests while simultaneously promoting its partners' genuine development. Finally, we address COP30 and the issue of fossil fuels, which was intentionally ignored during the negotiations held in Brazil.

READ NOW

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI Report

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2025

The trend towards significant nominal minimum wage increases is continuing this year. In view of falling inflation rates, this translates into a sizeable increase in purchasing power for minimum wage earners in most European countries. Most EU countries are now following the reference values for adequate minimum wages enshrined in the European Minimum Wage Directive, which are 60% of the median wage or 50% of the average wage.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

S&D Group in the European Parliament advertisement

Cohesion Policy

S&D Position Paper on Cohesion Policy post-2027: a resilient future for European territorial equity

Cohesion Policy seeks to foster balanced development and reduce economic, social, and territorial disparities, focusing on rural areas, regions in industrial transition, and those with severe or permanent natural or demographic disadvantages, including outermost, sparsely populated, island, cross-border, and mountain regions.

READ THE PAPER HERE

S&D Group in the European Parliament advertisement

Health

🇪🇺 Building a Resilient, Equitable EU Health Union: The S&D Blueprint


From securing pharmaceutical autonomy and guaranteeing universal access to care (the European Health Guarantee) to combatting non-communicable diseases and closing the Gender Health Gap. Read the S&D Group in the European Parliament Position Paper demanding that health becomes a priority across all EU policies.

READ THE POSITION PAPER

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