Lawmakers must stand up to platform pressure

Trade unions are calling on politicians to stand up to intense lobbying by platform companies and deliver real rights for delivery riders, taxi drivers, carers and other workers.

Uber has bombarded social media in Belgium with over 100 adverts since September 25 in an effort to weaken the EU directive on platform work, the Meta advert library shows.

The company has already spent more than 5 million Euro on lobbying the EU since 2013 and the latest push comes ahead of negotiations over the final text of the directive on November 9.  

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is today hitting back with its own video advert which calls out Uber’s aggressive lobbying tactics and calls for a strong platform work directive.

ETUC Confederal Secretary Ludovic Voet said:

“Platform lobbyists are throwing big money at advertising because they know they have a broken business model based on denying the most basic workers’ rights to their hardworking employees.

“Lawmakers should stand up to this aggressive lobbying and deliver a strong platform work directive which ensures Uber and other companies finally have to play by the same rules as other employers.

“Platforms should stop wasting their money on adverts and pay their workers properly.”