A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD Between security and flexibility

A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD? Between security and flexibility: challenges for the self-employed in The Netherlands

Variations on a theme: the Dutch touch Creeping precarity? Atypical employment the new typical? Contingent work on the increase? – 34%% NL workers ‘standard employment contracts, ’ lowest in EU – +/- 17% self-employed, ‘flexible’ employment increasing – Tax and social benefit consequences

The legality of minimum fees in collective agreements for self-employed musicians

The self-employed & the right to bargain C-413/13 FNV Kunsten Informatie en Media redux

What does the FNV seek? – Halt the downward spiral in the labor market, flexible work has turned into an excuse for lowered worker protections for zzpers: limited access to worker benefits, disability insurance, pensions, – Develop sector specific minimal salary benchmarks – Collective bargaining as a rule, not the exception for ‘zzpers’ – Push to adopt legislation where labor, employment and competition law work together in concert – Develop sustainable employability & career mobility solutions – Level the playing field: include self-employed in social

From consultation to action: the playing field expands • The playing field reconsidered: should employers pay social premiums for a broader category of ‘atypicals’/new typicals: selfemployed &‘false self-employed’? • Best practices to achieve realistic protection for the weakest links (contingents)? • Legislation for equality: should labor market equality be realized through legislating affordable disability, pension and other social schemes? • Are sectoral exceptions a move in the right direction?

A detour to the UK • UK Parliamentary report 29 April 2017 Designate freelancers in the gig economy the default status ‘worker’ to replace ‘self-employed’ status support entrepreneurship without subsidising unprofitable self-employment § “put the onus on companies to provide basic safety net standards of rights and benefits to their workers, and make the requisite contributions to the social safety net. ” (para. 21)

CAN LCABOR Old wine in new bottles? Or, viceversa? How can employment/labor law keep pace with the workplace? Can unions help bridge the gap between a neoliberal ‘marketplace’ rationale & fair employment?