The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) welcomed a decision today by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe that should put an end to restrictions on collective bargaining for self-employed persons. The Ministers’ Committee’s decision endorses an earlier ruling by the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) following pressure by the Irish Trade Union Confederation (ICTU) and its affiliates, SIPTU, Equity, the Musicians Union of Ireland and National Union of Journalists, and supported by the ETUC.
This article is divided into three parts: the first part explains the definition of the economically dependent self-employed and proposes ideas for improving this definition of this dependency. The second part of this article is dedicated to the working conditions of the self-employed, while the last part compares the job satisfaction of the self-employed, employees and family workers.