The emergence of a 'new world of work' interferes with traditional forms of work organisation. There is an underlying risk for the workers' movement to lose control on matters as crucial as working hours and working arrangements. Are traditional collective bargaining systems still the proper tool for regulating the new world of work? From a trade union perspective, it was clearly one of the most challenging questions on the agenda at the ETUI conference 'Shaping the new world of work', held in Brussels in June.