Welcome to Work Week

Before getting into why we chose this topic, the idea of doing themed weeks is to concentrate coverage on an under- or sporadically- reported topic or issue.

The hope is that by publishing more articles in a shorter amount of time, we can generate more attention for topics that concern citizens of the EU and how EU policy could help make their lives better.

And what better topic to start with than work, right?

Pretty much everybody, at some point in their lives, works. Or rather, we exchange time doing activities for the benefit of others (in most cases) for money. Work affects all of us.

But it affects all of us differently. And increasingly differently, as inequality increases.

Top that off with historically high prices (and rising) for basic needs, ongoing liberalisation and deregulation of work, the rise of new technologically-driven employer-employee relationships, the curtailing of the welfare state, an overly- complex and global financial system and the overall acceptance of ‘this is just how it is’, and you have a perfect little erlenmeyer for concentrating human misery at many different levels.

We could get into the history of political ideologies leading to this. Or dissect the class struggle resulting from it. Or point fingers at shareholder capitalism. Or just shrug and continue plodding on.

Or we can do what we’re attempting here at EUobserver. To shine a light on the individual and collective stories of how work — and the regulation thereof — is affecting people.

We aim to bring fresh perspectives on policies that can make a difference, for people in occupations ranging from bus drivers to financial analysts, and from farm workers to doctors.

The fragmentation of types of work and rights people have necessitates the inclusion of diverse perspectives, from all over Europe, from young to old, documented to undocumented and rich to poor, on how their interests could best be represented — and turned into policy.

This week, we’ll be publishing stories and op-eds on precariat pensions, the stagnation of real wage growth in Europe, ‘yellow unions’ representing platform workers, ‘digital frontier’ workers, wage-driven migration of healthcare workers, how the EU should deal with worker shortages, and more.

The idea is that this week will act as a kick-off for covering the topic of pan-European labour issues and regulation on a consistent basis. So we’re open for pitches.

We thank ETUI for their support of the week. If you’re interested in hearing more about upcoming themed weeks and how you can support our independent journalism, feel free to reach out to our sales team (or me).

Enjoy.

Read all the stories as we publish them throughout the week in the Work Week section (or on the homepage, you do you)