The new Hungarian Labour Code came into effect on the 1st of July 2012. The main objective of the reform is flexibilisation of labour law in order to increase the employment rate by promoting competitiveness of employers. This new orientation of labour law policy has been widely criticised, since the immediate effect of the new Act is the reduction of employee protection. Firstly, the paper describes the main objectives and background of the labour law reform. Secondly, we elucidate the main points of the reform, with a special emphasis on the situation of trade unions. The main question is, what effects may be expected as a consequence of flexibilised employment protection and diminished trade union rights.