The main obstacles in any negotiations on the working conditions of self-employed persons without employees and their employers are:
- Self-employed persons are not considered workers but entrepreneurs
- According to the Law on the Protection of Market Competition and article 101 of Treaty on European Union, agreements between entrepreneurs that could harm market competition are strictly prohibited.
However, the European Commission has issued Guidelines for the application of Union competition law to collective agreements regarding the working conditions of self-employed persons without employees, opening the door for the self-employed to negotiate collective agreements with employers.
The guidelines are not binding and they determine the principles that the European Commission uses when creating new initiatives, proposals, applying and evaluating existing regulations for the purpose of better regulation.
In order to obtain a clear interpretation of the Guidelines, the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists, together with the Croatian Association of Film Workers, the Trade Union of Education, Media and Culture, the Croatian Association of Audiovisual Translators, the Association of Screenwriters and Performers and the Base for Workers’ Initiative and Democratization, asked the Agency for the Protection of Market Competition (APMC), will it apply the Guidelines in its practice of protection of market competition?
Here is what they, among other things, answered:
“Specifically, the relevant Guidelines establish the principles on the basis of which, in accordance with Article 101 of the Treaty on European Union, agreements between entrepreneurs, decisions of associations of entrepreneurs and concerted action (under the common name “agreements “) concluded as a result of collective negotiations between self-employed persons without employees and one or several entrepreneurs (“one or more other contracting parties”) regarding the working conditions of self-employed persons without employees.
Therefore, APMC will appropriately use the Guidelines in the implementation of the Law on the Protection of Market Competition.”
This is important news for all those self-employed people without employees because it opens up the possibility of collective bargaining with their employers. It is also important to note that the Guidelines clarify the circumstances in which certain self-employed persons without employees can bargain collectively to improve working conditions without breaching Union competition rules.
This is how it is explained:
- Competition law does not apply to self-employed persons without employees who are in a situation comparable to that of workers. These are, among others, self-employed persons without employees who: provide services exclusively or predominantly to one entrepreneur; work alongside workers or provide services to or through a digital work platform.
- The Commission will not enforce Union competition rules against collective agreements of self-employed persons without employees who are in a subordinate bargaining position. This is, for example, the case when self-employed persons without employees face an imbalance in bargaining power due to negotiations with economically stronger companies or when they bargain collectively in accordance with national or Union legislation.
All self-employed journalists, actors, screenwriters, producers, translators find themselves in precisely these situations… The application of the Guidelines is certainly a positive step forward towards improving the labor rights of the self-employed without employees.