A aplicação do direito da concorrência nos mercados laborais: participação de trabalhadores das plataformas digitais em convenções coletivas e acordos de não contratação

On March 5, 2021, the European Commission launched a public consultation to ensure that competition rules don’t stand in the way for solo self-employed workers who wanat to participate in collective bargaining agreements to improve their working conditions. Agreements between self-employed workers are agreements between undertakings and competition rules may apply. There are, however, new forms of work and new categories of workers, such as workers on digital platforms, which do not fit into the traditional concept of self-employed workers and as such the application of competition rules in these cases is not evident. With the public consultation, the Commission addresses this issue and stresses that competition law should not be an obstacle to collective bargaining for those who need it. On the other hand, on April 13, 2021, the Portuguese Competition Authority has issued for the first time Statements of Objections for an agreement not to hire workers, involving the Portuguese Professional Football League and sports companies. These two cases illustrate the need for a new reflection on the supervision of labor market power by antitrust law. It is true that the discussion on the application of competition rules to labor markets is not new; it has become, however, urgent to revisit the issue in the context of the pandemic and with the need to stimulate economic recovery and employment. Our aim with this comment is to contribute to this indispensable reflection.