The European Parliament wants to negotiate new legislation to strengthen the rights of workers on digital platforms such as Uber or Deliveroo, rehabilitating many people who are now considered self-employed as employees.
In a plenary session in Brussels, a majority of 376 MEPs approved on Thursday the position that Parliament will defend during negotiations with the Member States (212 against, 15 abstentions). The latter, divided, have not yet defined their mandate, which could take several more weeks, or even several months, and delay the start of discussions accordingly.
The European Commission presented its text in December 2021. Although the regulations on platforms are today very different among the Twenty-seven, this text proposes establishing identical rules at the EU level to determine whether food delivery drivers or VTC drivers who work for the main digital platforms they must be requalified. as employees.
presumption of employment
Brussels wants to create a presumption of employment around five criteria: the fact that a platform sets remuneration levels, remotely supervises services, does not allow its employees to choose their hours or refuse missions, imposes the use of uniform, or even prohibit you from working for other companies.
If at least two criteria are met, the platform would be “presumed” to be an employer, and should abide by labor law obligations (minimum wage, work time, sick benefits, paid vacation, retirement, etc.) imposed by the legislation of the country in question. The Commission text also proposes to impose greater transparency on the operation of application algorithms, informing workers about the way in which they are supervised and evaluated (mission distribution, bonus allocation, etc.). The European Parliament wants that, in case of conflict, it is the company that demonstrates that it does not employ the worker.
Rapporteur for Parliament’s position, Italian MEP Elisabetta Gualmini (Socialists and Democrats, S&D) hailed a “victory for the rights of exploited and vulnerable workers”. “The party is over for Uber,” rejoiced French elect Leïla Chaibi (GUE/NGL, left). “We have won this crucial battle against the platform lobbies,” she said.
Some 500 companies and 28 million workers will be affected by the future regulations. The platforms are fiercely opposed to any significant retraining of workers, fearing a multiplication of legal proceedings with “disastrous consequences for employment, restaurants and the economy,” warned their lobby, the Delivery Platforms Europe federation, at the time of presentation of the draft. directive.
Source: BFM TV
