Ideas & public life · 3 October 2026
Oliver Philipp
and the FES work on AI and worker voice.
As intelligent systems change work, who gets to shape the terms?
By Martin Davies-Roundhill
As intelligent systems change work, who gets to shape the terms? The FES initiatives Oliver Philipp shared bring that question into the workplace and into European technology policy.
Oliver is a Policy Officer at Friedrich Ebert Stiftung’s Future of Work programme and the listed contact for its collective bargaining work on AI. These are collaborative initiatives involving researchers, unions and policymakers. This page recognises the work he shared and connects readers with its original sources.
Status checked 3 October 2026.
01 / Negotiating AI at work
Collective bargaining meets algorithmic management.
AI, Algorithmic Management and Collective Bargaining in European services: Fast track or slow lane? examines how unions negotiate over AI and algorithmic management in the European services sector.
Algorithmic management uses data, monitoring and automated or semi-automated decisions to organise work, including scheduling, evaluation and coordination. The project addresses workers’ rights, data protection, transparency and the role of collective bargaining.
FES Future of Work and UNI Europa worked with the Central European Labour Studies Institute and WageIndicator Foundation. The new research builds on a 2024 study and two surveys of European services workers.
As reviewed on 3 October 2026, the new study launch was scheduled for 12 October 2026, with an online event advertised. The earlier project links published 2024 reports and describes collecting clauses from collective agreements to give negotiators practical examples.
Read the new study announcement
Explore the background project and 2024 research
02 / Europe’s choices about AI
Technological sovereignty and dependence.
Hard choices: EU technological sovereignty and the geopolitics of AI asks how Europe can strengthen its technological autonomy while working with international partners.
Much of the AI infrastructure Europe uses is developed and controlled outside the EU. The discussion concerns the dependencies and trade-offs this creates.
As reviewed on 3 October 2026, the event was scheduled for 13 October 2026 at the European Parliament in Brussels. MEP Laura Ballarín Cereza and FES Future of Work host the discussion, with announced contributors including Francesca Bria, José Ignacio Torreblanca and Leevi Saari. No conclusions are represented here before the event takes place.
03 / Why this matters to End Up Here
Two levels of influence over AI.
My reading is that these initiatives connect two levels of influence over AI: workers’ ability to negotiate its use inside organisations, and the public choices that determine dependence on technology providers and infrastructure.
For End Up Here, this makes the question of who benefits from technological capability more concrete. If intelligent systems can perform more of the work people need for a livelihood, how might the resulting gains become more time, income security and better conditions?
There are several questions I want to explore:
- Can collective agreements translate productivity gains into shorter working hours and greater security?
- How can workers understand and challenge automated workplace decisions?
- What forms of public or collective influence over infrastructure would help distribute benefits more widely?
These are questions prompted by the work Oliver shared. The linked projects concern present AI and algorithmic management; the connection to possible future superintelligence is my own.
The new study should provide a useful opportunity to examine specific agreements, protections and lessons for the wider End Up Here inquiry.
This is an independent reading guide, not an official FES publication or an endorsement of End Up Here.