Quality Jobs Roadmap: Time to deliver

Today, the European Commission presented its Quality Jobs Roadmap (QJR), placing quality work at the centre of Europe’s competitiveness and social model. CESI welcomes this commitment. Job quality is not a secondary issue: it is essential for productivity, trust, social cohesion and Europe’s ability to manage green, digital and demographic transitions.

CESI has long called for a specific and comprehensive EU approach to quality employment to complement the European Pillar of Social Rights. The Roadmap must guarantee fair working conditions, decent wages, secure employment, strong social protection, economic security and inclusive labour markets. CESI urges the Commission to adopt an ambitious and enforceable framework capable of addressing the pressing challenges facing workers across Europe.

CESI agrees with the four priority areas where, according to the Roadmap, EU action is most needed:

· Psychosocial risks and mental health at work
· Responsible algorithmic management and the use of AI at work
· Right to disconnect and telework
· A review of occupational safety and health rules for digital workplaces, including the revision of the Display Screen Equipment Directive (90/270/EEC)

The Roadmap is a positive step forward. It acknowledges that quality jobs and competitiveness reinforce each other and confirms the central role of trade unions and social dialogue in shaping fair transitions. The Commission’s intention to propose a Quality Jobs Act and to launch social partner consultations is welcome, and CESI will engage constructively.

However, the Roadmap alone will not close Europe’s job-quality gaps. Workers cannot depend on principles without effective delivery. To have real impact, the Roadmap must be backed by binding guarantees, clear timelines and adequate resources, ensuring tangible improvements across Member States and sectors.

Moreover, improving job quality requires a coherent legislative and non-legislative approach. CESI calls for aligning the Quality Jobs Roadmap with other EU initiatives, such as:

· a revision of the Public Procurement Directive, with obligations for beneficiaries of public money to apply quality work standards for their workers
· the implementation of the EU’s multisectoral guidelines on third-party violence, as co-negotiated by CESI
· sector-specific actions for quality work in areas such as health care, education and public services
· the upcoming EU Teachers Roadmap
· the Roadmap for Women’s Rights and the forthcoming EU Gender Equality Strategy.

Only through a sectoral and cross-sectoral approach can comprehensive and applicable provisions be achieved.

The Quality Jobs Roadmap must also support the effective implementation of recent and existing EU directives, including:

• the Minimum Wage Directive (2022/2041)
• the Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970)
• the Women on Boards Directive (2022/2381)
• the Directive on Combating Violence Against Women (2024/1385)

Even the strongest rules are ineffective without proper enforcement. The Roadmap itself notes the uneven application of EU labour standards across Member States and the need for stronger tools, guidance and inspections. CESI fully agrees. Europe must ensure that rights on paper become rights in practice through effective labour inspections, accountability mechanisms and consequences where violations occur.

Building on its consultation contribution, CESI will push for:

· strong and inclusive social dialogue and collective bargaining;
· decisive action against precarious and insecure work;
· worker-centred AI and algorithmic management rules, including transparency, human oversight and limits on surveillance;
· an enforceable right to disconnect for all workers;
· a modernised OSH framework, including an updated Display Screen Equipment Directive, addressing psychosocial and ergonomic risks in digital and hybrid workplaces;
· investment in quality public services and their staff, tackling shortages and supporting fair transitions;
· monitoring and, if needed, contributing to the enforcement of EU legislation and case-law as well as to the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, both at European and national level.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said, “Our message is clear: Europe needs a Quality Jobs Roadmap — and a Quality Jobs Act — that delivers real improvements for workers, backed by serious enforcement of existing rights!”