Published in December 2025, the European Commission’s Quality Jobs Roadmap set out an initial strategy for improving job quality. Building on this strategy, the Quality Jobs Act is intended to introduce specific legislative measures to improve working conditions and strengthen workers’ rights across the EU. To prepare this legislation, the European Commission conducted a two-stage consultation with the European social partners. The second phase of the consultation enabled them to comment on specific measures. It was concluded at the end of September. However, the social partners’ comments reflect fundamentally different views. While the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) calls for binding EU legislation to improve working conditions, BusinessEurope largely opposes new legal requirements and favours mainly non-binding measures instead. It is now up to the European Commission to present a concrete legislative proposal. In her September State of the Union address, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reaffirmed that the proposal would be presented before the end of the year.

In a new AK EUROPA position paper, AK calls for the legislation to set specific, legally binding minimum standards and deliver lasting improvements in working conditions for employees across Europe. The legislation should include a non-regression clause and an opening clause allowing national regulations and collective agreements that are more favourable to workers.

AK’s demands for the Quality Jobs Act

To close existing legal loopholes, clear and binding regulations are needed on algorithmic management and the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace. Algorithmic systems are increasingly used to manage workflows, assess performance and make personnel decisions. This can expose workers to surveillance and greater pressure, often with little transparency. The existing EU legal framework has gaps and does not provide sufficient protection. AK is therefore calling for legally binding minimum standards governing the design and use of algorithmic management systems, which adhere to the principle of a human-centred application and provide for a strong role for workers’ representatives. Employees must have the right to contest algorithm-based decisions and obtain human review. These regulations should not fall below the level of protection provided by the Platform Work Directive.

EU workplace health and safety rules should be broadened and updated to address current challenges, particularly with regard to psychosocial risks, protection from violence and harassment, and heat in the workplace. AK also calls for effective enforcement of the right to disconnect outside working hours.

Complex subcontracting structures make it difficult to enforce workers’ rights, as responsibilities remain unclear. To tackle social security fraud, undeclared work and wage dumping, AK therefore calls for limits on subcontracting chains and mandatory joint and several liability for the principal contractor across the entire supply chain.

The debate on a just transition highlights the need for binding EU rules to strengthen workers’ rights throughout the green and digital transition. Employees should be able to play an active role in shaping changes within their organisation and prepare for new professional challenges. It is of particular importance to close gaps in co-determination rights. Legal entitlements to high-quality, self-selected training and further education should be established, but the Commission has not yet made provision for them. This should also give employees a legal right to a minimum annual allocation of working hours for training and further education.

The AK strongly warns against weakening existing workers’ rights in EU social policy in the name of so-called simplification. Rather than yield to business lobbies’ misguided demands for deregulation, the Quality Jobs Act must preserve existing protection standards and strengthen them with new, binding and enforceable rules.

European Parliament and Council outline their positions

The European Parliament and the Council of the EU are also becoming increasingly involved in the debate on the details of the Quality Jobs Act. The European Parliament has already adopted several important own-initiative reports. For instance, it called for binding rules on algorithmic management, with a focus on human oversight and transparency. It also sought a Just Transition Directive in the world of work and an individual right to further training during working hours and presented an own-initiative report on subcontracting chains. Most recently, the Parliament called for stronger rules on psychosocial risks, stress and mental health at work. In a discussion with the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment (EMPL) on 12 October, Commission Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu highlighted the protection of workers in subcontracting chains and stressed that the Commission was considering measures to address workplace heat and psychosocial risks.

The Member States have also set out their expectations regarding the legislative act. At the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council meeting on 19 October, ministers and their representatives exchanged views on the key priorities for the forthcoming Quality Jobs Act. Austria welcomed the initiative and particularly backed extending the Platform Work Directive’s protection standards to all workers, embedding human oversight in algorithm-based decisions, and debating limits on subcontracting chains in sensitive sectors. By and large, Austria called for a strong European legal framework that empowers workers and safeguards existing protection standards against deregulation. The Commission must now propose a robust Quality Jobs Act that delivers binding improvements for a social Europe.

Further information

AK EUROPA:  Call for evidence on the Quality Jobs Act
AK EUROPA: AI is reshaping work. But what rules should govern it?
AK EUROPA: European Pillar of Social Rights. Full implementation would be a major benefit for Europe
EU Commission: Second-phase consultation document
ETUC: Response to the Commission’s second-phase consultation of the social partners
Eurofound: The never-ending workday in flexible-working Europe
EU Parliament: Study on Digitalisation, artificial intelligence and algorithmic management in the workplace