This chapter investigates potential conflicts arising in the Italian legal framework between collective labour rights and the application of competition law to the constellation of personal labour relations that escape binary taxonomies. Its overarching goal is to understand whether and to what extent concerted wage-fixing practices are granted a special immunity. Historical evidence suggests that collective agreements covering the kaleidoscopic group of non-standard workers have never been targeted by the Italian competition authority. We situate the examination of labour antitrust exemption in the broader picture of the adequacy of the current mechanisms of “collective self-regulation” for self-employed workers. This chapter illustrates the Constitutional framework and case law developments on whether self-employed workers fall within the personal scope of collective rights. It also argues that several provisions corroborate that the Italian lawmaker often entrusts social partners in regulating specific aspects of the relationship of certain categories of self-employed workers. The chapter also presents a selection of collective agreements for non-standard workers, and then discusses how long-established trade unions have included non-standard workers in their membership through multiple, not necessarily successful, attempts. Finally, it presents practical hurdles that make it difficult to build impactful solidarity amongst non-standard workers.

In France, the question of the impact of the French competition law on trade union actions or collective agreements arose only very rarely and rather late. Because of historical differentiation between both matters, the institutions of labour law do not represent a subject of competition law and they are not subject to any express legal exemption. Labour law does not provide for such a conflict either. Consequently, trade union institutions and collective agreements are generally analysed according to the common criteria of competition law and more particularly with regard to European competition law. However, the subject of the relationship between competition law and labour law has recently been revived with the recent inclusion in the Labour Code of the competitive control of extension orders for collective agreements. In addition, discussions are underway on how to enable self-employed platform workers to collectively negotiate their terms and conditions of employment with digital labour platforms, without breaching anti-competitive practices law.