The rise of the gig economy has intensified the tensions between labour law and EU competition law. As platform workers are typically classified as self-employed, they slip through the meshes of labour law while they are simultaneously considered ‘undertakings’ under competition law. This article maps the different ways in which competition law intersects with platform labour markets and explores the role that competition law can play in addressing the gig economy’s excesses, with a dual approach. First, it assesses the offensive use of competition law as a sword to discipline gig platform conduct under Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. While recent enforcement against wagefixing and no-poach agreements demonstrates a renewed focus on labour markets, the article shows that structural and evidentiary barriers continue to limit effective intervention. Second, the article explores the defensive function of competition law as a shield to protect platform workers from competition enforcement. It analyses Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) caselaw, the Commission’s 2022 Guidelines and the Platform Work Directive, situating them within a broader normative shift toward a socially attuned application of competition law. The article concludes that while competition law cannot substitute labour law, a labour-sensitive recalibration can meaningfully contribute to rebalancing power in platform labour markets.
World Competition