Competitiveness at the Expense of Workers’ Rights?
15. December 2025New EU Data and AI Package: Competitiveness at the Expense of Workers’ Rights?
The European Union has presented the so-called Digital Omnibus Package, intended to simplify the regulatory framework for data and artificial intelligence in the name of innovation and competitiveness. While framed as a technical and neutral reform, critics warn that the package may have serious consequences for workers’ rights, particularly in workplaces where AI and algorithmic systems are increasingly used for monitoring, work organisation, and human resources management.
In an analysis by Aida Ponce Del Castillo, the Digital Omnibus is described as deregulation disguised as innovation. The reforms risk weakening data protection, transparency, and safeguards for workers, while strengthening the position of large technology companies — primarily based outside Europe. For the trade union movement, this development underscores the need for vigilance and a clear stance to ensure that technological progress does not come at the cost of job quality, privacy, and fundamental labour rights.
The package restructures the EU data acquis by consolidating instruments into a single Data Act and loosening safeguards in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the AI Act and related laws, while launching an EU Data Union Strategy. Its evidential base is thin, with no substantiated impact assessment or risk analysis. As Mariniello, Alemanno and NOYB rightly argue, the Digital Omnibus represents a constitutional shift. Yet this shift has been introduced without systematic assessment of its consequences for workers and other vulnerable users.
Source: Social Europe