European Commission’s Quality Jobs Roadmap is a first step but must move swiftly from words to action.

Today the European Commission has presented the much-anticipated Quality Jobs Roadmap. At a time when working people across Europe continue to face uncertainty about the future of their jobs and living standards, this roadmap offers the possibility of a positive step towards a fairer, more secure and future‑proof world of work.

The roadmap offers an opportunity to close gaps in workers’ protection and ensure that all workers in Europe have access to quality jobs, including in fast‑changing sectors shaped by digitalisation, industrial transformation, demographic shifts and geopolitical uncertainties. Its focus on fair wages, safe and healthy workplaces, predictable working conditions, access to skills and training, and stronger collective bargaining aligns with long‑standing trade union priorities to respond to the realities people face at work.

At the same time, the Workers' Group is deeply concerned by the Commission’s ongoing so-called 'simplification' agenda, which risks weakening or removing hard-won rights and protections for workers. The Commission cannot give with one hand and take away with the other. Any progress towards quality jobs must be matched by a firm commitment to protect and strengthen existing rights and standards—not dilute them.

Lucie Studničná, EESC Workers’ Group President, said “Europe’s workers need certainty about their jobs and living standards. Today’s roadmap is a first step, but it must move swiftly from words to action. The forthcoming Quality Jobs Act has to deliver enforceable rights: tackling algorithmic management and abusive subcontracting, updating health and safety rules to cover psychosocial risks and telework, and strengthening collective bargaining across Member States. Quality jobs are the surest route to productivity, resilience and social cohesion in Europe.”

The Workers' Group calls on the Commission to ensure that this roadmap leads to robust legislation and investment that guarantees quality jobs in every sector and region, and to complete the work on telework and the right to disconnect by translating consultation outcomes into binding law.