Re-introducing a human face – the future of EU Collective Labour Law?

Following the oil crisis of the 1970s, it was said that in an era of economic insecurity it was now time for the European Economic Community (as it then was) to acquire a more ‘human face’. Accordingly, the first collective information and consultation requirements were put in place alongside other European social policy measures. In 2020, following a prolonged financial and sovereign debt crisis and now in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, Europe again faces decisions regarding policy priorities, which in turn have implications for collective labour law.

The first part of the chapter will set out briefly the changes proposed by EU institutions at the time of writing (October 2020) and their apparent impact on EU collective labour law. The second part will critically review their significance in the light of the threat posed by continuation of the status quo. In this context, the relevance of British exit of the European Union (‘Brexit’) will also be considered. It will be argued that such measures could be viewed as evidence of a Polanyian ‘counter-movement’, which has potential to decommodify the EU labour market.