Beyond Algorithmic Management: Will the AI Act, the Platform Work Directive and the GDPR Be Enough to Guarantee Workers’ Digital Rights?

  • Panel
  • Orangerie
  • Friday 23.05 — 11:50 - 13:05

Organising Institution

European Trade Union Institute (ETUI)

Belgium

The European Trade Union Institute is the independent research and training centre of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) which itself affiliates European trade unions into a single European umbrella organisation. The ETUI places its expertise – acquired in particular in the context of its links with universities, academic and expert networks – in the service of workers’ interests at European level and of the strengthening of the social dimension of the European Union. As an international non-profit-making association, the ETUI has been set up to conduct research and provide scientific, educational and technical support to the ETUC and its affiliates. To carry out this overall mission, the ETUI supports, reinforces and stimulates the European trade union movement, in order to contribute to the development of Social Europe.
  • Academic 2
  • Business 2
  • Policy 2
In the employment context, both the AI Act and the Directive on Improving Working Conditions in Platform Work introduce rights and obligations concerning the use of AI systems, particularly in automated monitoring and decision-making. While both frameworks intersect with the GDPR, their scope and application differ. The Platform Work Directive applies exclusively to platform workers, whereas the AI Act addresses mainly high-risk AI systems, and even then with important exemptions and ambiguities in scope. This panel will explore whether the existing EU legislative framework provides sufficient safeguards for workers in an increasingly automated work, or whether additional or targeted regulation is necessary to fill legal and practical gaps. The discussion will also consider the experience of legal practitioners regarding recent decisions by Data Protection Authorities on labour-related investigations, and whether these cases can help clarify obligations or address enforcement challenges

Questions to be answered

  1. How can the AI Act be effectively implemented in the employment context to ensure adequate protection, considering both high-risk and non-high-risk AI systems?
  2. Are the requirements on human oversight adequate for employment?
  3. Can workers genuinely exercise the right to contest automated decision making?
  4. Is there a need for a legal distinction between worker lawful monitoring and surveillance?

Moderator

Aida Ponce Del Castillo

European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) - Belgium

Aída Ponce Del Castillo is a lawyer by training. She holds a master’s degree in bioethics and has obtained her European doctorate in law. At the Foresight Unit of the ETUI, her research focuses on the cross-boundary field between science and emerging technologies, especially with regard to ethical, social and legal issues, with a focus on AI. Additionally, she is in charge of conducting foresight projects. She is a member of the committee for the National Convergence Plan for the Development of AI, in Belgium. At the OECD she is a member of the working parties on biotechnology, nanotechnology and converging technologies, as well as on Al governance. She was previously Head of the ETUI Health and Safety Unit and coordinator of the Workers’ Interest Group at the Advisory Committee of Safety and Health to the European Commission

Speaker

Anastasia Siapka

KU Leuven - Belgium

Dr Anastasia Siapka is an attorney at law (Court of First Instance, Greece), a research fellow at the KU Leuven Centre for IT & IP Law (Belgium), and a research affiliate at the Autonomy Institute (United Kingdom). Her research lies at the intersection of AI, law, and ethics, with a distinct focus on the future of work. Previously, Dr Siapka was a Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) fellow and research associate at the KU Leuven Centre for IT & IP Law, as well as a visiting researcher at King’s College London and the University of Edinburgh.

Speaker

Anton Ekker

Independent Lawyer - Netherlands

Anton has years of experience as a legal adviser, sparring partner and litigator. He combines a personal and informal approach with in-depth legal knowledge of his field. Anton is a member of the Privacy Lawyers Association (VPR-A), the Privacy Law Association (VPR) and the Mass Tort Lawyers Association (VVMA). Anton is co-founder and chairman of the Association of AI Lawyers (VAI-A). He is also a board member of The Privacy Collective Foundation. Prior to his career in law, he obtained his PhD from the Institute for Information Law (IViR). In the register of areas of law of the Dutch Bar Association, Anton is registered under the area of law Privacy Law. By virtue of this registration, he is obliged to obtain ten training points in this area of law each calendar year according to the standards of the Dutch Bar Association. Ekker Legal does not have a third-party funds foundation and does not receive third-party funds.

Speaker

Michele Mole Mole

University of Groningen - Netherlands

Michele Molè is a PhD candidate at the University of Groningen. His research lies at the intersection of EU data protection, AI law and labour law. He is currently finalising his doctoral monograph on the regulation of "artificially intelligent" workplace surveillance in the EU. He was a trainee at the ETUI and led the Panoptiwork interdisciplinary research network at the University of Groningen on work and digitalisation. 

Speaker

Sandy JJ Gould

University of Cardiff - United Kingdom

Sandy J. J. Gould is an academic at the School of Computer Science and Informatics, Cardiff University, in the UK and a member of the School’s Human-Centred Computing group. He studies people's interactions with digital technologies, especially measurement, tracking and surveillance in work contexts. This includes research in understanding new forms of work, such as crowdwork, but also in how more traditional forms of work are being changed by technology