Competitiveness and innovation are at the core of Ursula von der Leyen’s second mandate as chief of the European Commission.
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Recent developments, such as proposals for new business-friendly legal frameworks like the 28th regime and repeated calls for deregulation, have raised concern among some observers, who argue that workers’ rights risk being overlooked, or even eroded.
Meanwhile, people are concerned that new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) will replace them, while stress on the job is causing a burnout crisis.
On International Labour Day, Brussels, My Love? explores the challenges and opportunities faced by European workers in this current climate with Esther Lynch, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Mikkel Barslund, labour market researcher at KU Leuven, and Clark Parsons, CEO of the European Startup Network.
Burnout and new technologies
This year’s Labour Day marks a historic occasion: 100 years ago on this day, Henry Ford, the man behind the car brand Ford, introduced a five-day working week with a two-day work-free weekend. In the following decades, great strides were made to improve working conditions.
However, significant hurdles remain. “The challenges in front of us are significant and serious,” Lynch said. “Whether it’s artificial intelligence and the lack of safeguards, the amount of stress and burnout that workers have at the moment, or scrupulous companies using loopholes to undermine rights and entitlements.”
She noted that some European countries are even questioning whether International Workers’ Day should be a public holiday. “So we are absolutely coming together, celebrating our victories, but also preparing for all of the struggles of the future.”
On the skyrocketing burnout rates, Barslund lamented the lack of harmonised data on the phenomenon. Some studies report that around 20% of European employees show signs of burnout, while others estimate the figure is as high as 60%. This makes it difficult to establish a precise prevalence rate in Europe, and therefore also hinders solutions.
“One reason why it’s very difficult to tackle [burnout and work-related stress] is that we actually don’t have a grip on this,” the researcher said. “Burnout is increasing throughout Europe, but we don’t harmonise statistics showing this. It’s a very important problem, but we don’t understand it very well.”
He noted the same is true when it comes to understanding what is causing this spike in work-related mental health problems.
Another issue keeping many workers up at night is the emergence of new technologies like AI and what this means for people’s jobs.
Again, Barslund highlights that it is difficult to assess whether European jobs are at risk with the rise of AI. However, he underlines concerns that AI tools may be used for intrusive surveillance of employees, potentially causing stress and even burnout.
Parsons, on the other hand, believes that AI is already leading to “incredibly massive disruption” across many sectors.
However, he also sees this technology as an important asset for European startups: “What’s been really exciting to see is the amount of incredible breakthrough technology, new labs, new startups, and new investment happening all across Europe,” he said.
Are workers’ rights being eroded in Europe?
In this fast-changing environment, the EU’s interest in boosting industry’s competitiveness is, of course, highly tied to the question of workers’ rights.
According to Lynch, it is good that the EU is supporting people in starting and scaling up businesses; however, she argues that the 28th regime, also known as EU Inc, should not be considered the solution to making Europe more competitive.
“That is going to undermine every single employment right that everybody is currently protected by around Europe,” she told Euronews.
Among the most critical points of the 28th regime, Lynch highlights the possibility for companies to register in a location different from that of their employees, to start and close a business quickly, and to use share options instead of wages.
Additionally, Parsons believes the 28th regime will be a great opportunity for European start-ups and their growth. “When we [stat-ups and unions] sit down and have a dialogue with each other, we’re going to find a whole lot of areas where we completely agree”.
In addition to the EU Inc, Lynch is also concerned about the crackdown on trade unions. “What we have seen throughout Europe is some bad legislation being introduced, in particular to prevent working people coming together to protest,” she told Euronews.
According to the 2025 Global Rights Index, nearly three-quarters of European countries violated the right to strike, and almost a third of them arrested or detained workers.
“We need governments to be very clear with employers that they expect them to live up to their responsibilities, to recognise the union, to respect the union and to facilitate workers to come together,” Lynch said.
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