In a historic move, the European Parliament has today adopted the Platform Work Directive, a major victory for millions of people working through digital platforms. This directive ensures that they will finally obtain minimum wages, sick pay, and other essential employment safeguards.
Key Provisions:
- Presumption of Employment: Trade unions successfully secured that presumption of employment will become reality everywhere across Europe. Instead of individual workers navigating lengthy court processes to prove their status, the burden of proof now rests with platform corporations to demonstrate that workers are not employees.
- Recognition of Trade Unions: The directive explicitly recognizes the pivotal role of trade unions across all facets of the platform economy, including critical issues like algorithm management. Despite calls for weakening these provisions, they remain intact, underscoring the urgent need for collective bargaining in the platform sector.
The number of people working through digital platforms is rapidly growing and projected to reach 43 million by year-end, according to the European Council.
The European Parliament has just given bogus self-employment the boot.@LudovicVoet on the #PlatformWork Directive: a major victory for millions of people working through digital platforms.
— EUROPEAN TRADE UNIONS (@etuc_ces) April 24, 2024
Our take: https://t.co/fRsoplFWaV pic.twitter.com/NzPCB1yY8R
Ludovic Voet, Confederal Secretary of the ETUC, said:
“The Platform Work Directive is adopted. We did it. We won. The European Parliament voted the final agreement. This is excellent news for millions of digital platform workers who will no longer be deprived of minimum wages, sick pay, holiday pay, and social security.
“This is a historic trade union win. The scandal of bogus self-employment spreading to other sectors was a real threat and we will make sure that it will stop with implementation of this directive. In the near future, workers will be able to negotiate how algorithms works.
“Trade unions have long fought back and are making the difference. While digital platform corporations threw millions to sway legislation in their favour, it is workers and their unions who emerge victorious.
“After a terrible decision on fiscal rules yesterday, we see that everything is to fight for at EU level. Nothing is given to us. For an EU that delivers for workers, we all need to vote for a social Europe that concretely improves the lives of Europeans. Today’s victory is an important legacy.”
