Delivery workers say the platform work directive could stop them being treated as a “slave to an algorithm” if it is properly implemented by national governments.
The directive is expected to be given the final green light by the Council shortly, meaning member states need to begin putting its improvements into their national law.
Ahead of the start of the ‘transposition period’, 160 platform workers, trade unionists, experts and policymakers gathered at the Trade Union Platfor(u)m event in Paris today to call on governments to properly implement the directive to deal with the growing ‘platformisation’ of sectors outside delivery and transport.
‘‘Right to dignity’
The directive includes a presumption of employment for workers, meaning platform companies now have to prove they are not employees with rights rather than individual workers having to take corporations to court to secure basic provisions like a minimum wage or sick pay.
For the first time, there will also be regulation of algorithmic management which has been used to hire and fire workers without transparency.
Speaking at Platfor(u)m, Fernando Garcia, a delivery rider from Spain, said: “We need dignity, dignity for our life, our working life, and not to be slave of an algorithm. So, all countries, not only mine, must intensively transpose the directive.”
Proper contract
Rasa Kavailauskaite, a delivery worker from Austria, said: “I hope that thanks to the directive, the company will take more responsibilities, instead of outsourcing them to the workers. For example, currently all the work-related expenses come from us, not the company. I hope it will change with the directive. All delivery workers – not only the food delivery – deserve a proper contract.”
Andrea Pratovecchi, a former delivery worker who became a trade union representative, said: “The importance of the EU directive is high, notably when it comes about health and safety issues and guarantee of a proper wage and income. The directive should make real progress for us in these fields.”
However, Platfor(u)m also heard warnings that companies were also trying to find ways around the directive. Stanislav Kierwiak, a Polish trade unionist, said: “Despite the presumption of employment enshrined in the directive, we are very concerned in Poland by the behaviour of companies subcontracting to intermediary companies as a way to escape to their obligations.”
That is why the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is calling on member states to go beyond the minimum requirements when implementing the directive and work with trade unions to ensure workers’ rights are finally made fit for the digital economy.
Speaking at Platfor(u)m, ETUC Confederal Secretary Tea Jarc said:
“As a representative of the European workers’ movement, which was promoting and fighting for the platform work directive for more than 3 years, I am very proud to stand here, at the kick off of the largest trade union gathering on platform economy, symbolically in Paris, as France opposed the directive until the very end.
“We have the European directive now and it is an ambitious one, which allows for business development while making sure that our European social model is not compromised, and vulnerable workers are not exploited.
“But now the ball is in the hands of member states and their governments to transpose the main EU requirements into their national law.”
Bogus self-employment
“They will have to implement a presumption of employment without any additional burden to workers,” Jarc added. “They will have to end abusive practices in algorithmic management. And they will have to put in place measures to ensure a strong workers' voice and representation.”
“This directive is timely, but we have to keep in mind that the platform work model keeps growing, impacting more and more sectors often working on the principle of bogus self-employment. It is in our joint interest that platform workers from all social backgrounds have clear working status and are protected, by having access to social security and decent working conditions.
“We call on all member states to use this opportunity not to only adapt national laws where necessary but, in close dialogue with social partners, to ensure the platform work model no longer exploits vulnerable workers and ensures their proper inclusion and protection in the European labour market.”
