About Susanne Wixforth

Susanne Wixforth is head of unit in the Europe and International Department of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). She was formerly senior legal and economic adviser on European affairs in the Austrian Chamber of Labour (AK Vienna).

The Celtic Tiger leaves Irish workers scarred

by Susanne Wixforth on 9th May 2019

Workers in Ireland are still bearing the brunt after the Celtic Tiger’s demise—but with a modest gain against the precarisation of work.

The European Hydra: Wages And Social Dumping – Competition Law As A Way Out

by Susanne Wixforth on 20th November 2018

Fighting against transnational social dumping can best be compared to Heracles’ struggle against the Hydra of Lerna – the multi-headed serpent in Greek mythology. This struggle is highly uneven because every time a head is cut off, the monster regenerates two new ones to replace it. Similarly, when trade unions succeed in revealing a case […]

The New EU Budget Under The Constraints Of Brexit And The Debt Brake

by Susanne Wixforth on 13th July 2018

The UK’s exit from the EU means a contributions gap of an estimated €10-14 billion per year, around 7 percent of the EU Budget. Thereby, the discussion about the multi-annual financial framework has already set off in one direction: How do we fill the gap rather than how do we reform the budget? At the […]

The Future Of Europe – A Space For The Social Policy Avant-Garde

by Susanne Wixforth on 31st January 2018

On March 1 2017, the European Commission set out a White Paper on the Future of Europe. There was none of the fierce debate that might have been expected after the UK’s Brexit vote and application to leave: the European Union simply remained trapped in its daily routine. Brexit negotiations, the row about refugee quotas […]

Zygmunt Bauman was a towering intellectual who saw and analysed – right up to his death in early 2017 – the great socio-political changes, often convulsive, in modern western society long before his peers. Here we highlight his prescient insights into what he dubbed ‘liquid modernity’ with 24 chapters on topics ranging from online loneliness via precarity/poverty/inequality to migration, fear of the ‘Other’ and the decline of the nation state. Chronicle of Crisis, 2011-16, written by one of the great chroniclers of our times, will be read and re-read for decades and more to come.

Time for substantial minimum wage rises and a European minimum wage policy

Minimum wages in most European Union (EU) countries were increased at the start of 2019, with an median increase of 4.8 % compared with the previous year, continuing the recent trends towards faster minimum wage growth. Much of this is accounted for by substantial increases in Eastern Europe together with efforts to undertake permanent and structural increases in minimum wage levels in countries such as Spain. There is also a growing debate over the role of minimum wages for the concept of Social Europe, which is expected to play a significant role in the 2019 European Parliament elections. In this context, the German government has indicated that one of its priorities during its EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2020 will be elaborating a framework for a European minimum wage policy.

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‘Algorithm breakers’ are not a different ‘species’: attitudes towards trade unions of Deliveroo riders in Belgium

This working paper investigates a rare case of platform work performed in the realm of regulated employment and explores the attitudes of platform workers towards collective representation. Using a case study of Deliveroo, a food delivery platform, the paper argues that platform workers are not essentially different to their peers in their attitudes towards trade unions. The paper finds that the riders do not generally hold negative views towards unions, and do not consider unions incompatible with platform work. Instead, there has been a lack of union activity in reaching out to riders as a reason for their non-membership.

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Webinar: Flexible working in the digital age - Is everyone a winner?

On 13 June 2019 from 15.00 – 16.30 CET, Eurofound will host a webinar about its latest research findings on the growing number of ICT-based mobile workers, or workers who are not tied to a particular work location as they use a tablet, laptop or phone to connect the company network via Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). By registering for this webinar, attendees will be able to take part in the live Q&A session and send in questions and reactions via the live chat.

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A New Analytical Approach Towards Sustainable Development

Co-sponsored by the S&D through its Progressive Society Initiative, the Independent Annual Sustainable Economy Survey is an alternative vision of the Commission's Annual Growth Survey. In addition to its usual in-depth analyses of economic and social developments in Europe, the new iASES broadens its scope and addresses environmental sustainability. To this end, it provides the first ever evaluation of Europe's ‘climate debt’, i.e. a computation of the investments needed for EU Member States to achieve the climate targets set out in the COP 21 agreement.

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