This article considers the impact of the economic, social and political crisis on the labour law regimes of two of the Member States of the European Union most affected; Greece and Ireland. Both countries have been the recipients of ‘bail-out’ deals, negotiated and monitored by what has become known as the ‘Troika’ of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The article considers the extent to which both countries have been required to make amendments to their labour law regimes, as a condition of their bail-outs. It argues that the changes demanded reflect the basic norm now governing the EU legal order, namely that of ‘competition’; the logic of market integration based on the primacy of economic competition.