delivery services
EU wants better working conditions on online platforms
The EU Parliament is committed to better working conditions for online platform employees. photo
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
Millions of platform workers are freelancers – that could soon change. But not everyone sees advantages in the EU Parliament’s plans.
The European Parliament wants to improve working conditions for employees of online platforms such as Bolt, Uber, Gorillas and other delivery services. In such a job you are a slave to the algorithm, said the Social Democratic MEP Elisabetta Gualmini on Thursday at a session of the EU Parliament in Brussels. The background is a proposal by the EU Commission, according to which online platform employees should be better protected in the future. The EU states and Parliament still have to agree on a compromise.
According to the proposal, millions of platform employees could be classified as employees – and not as freelancers as before. This means that they are entitled to basic employee rights such as pension, health and unemployment insurance, said SPD MEP Gaby Bischoff. The left MEP Özlem Alev Demirel welcomed the project. Workers also have the right to unionize and negotiate collective agreements, she said.
Skepticism from the FDP, approval from unions
The proposal also seeks to regulate how digital work platforms should use algorithms and artificial intelligence to monitor and evaluate workers.
The FDP MEP Svenja Hahn is skeptical about the proposal. In your opinion, he abolishes self-employment far beyond delivery or driving services. “In fact, all people who offer their services via digital work platforms would be forced into an employment relationship,” said Hahn. Gualmini vehemently disagreed with this view on Thursday.
The chairwoman of the German trade union federation, Yasmin Fahimi, emphasized that the “bogus self-employment and exploitation on this shadow job market” must be curbed effectively.
Negotiations on the Commission’s proposal between the EU countries have been difficult in the past. These had initially failed because of Germany, among other things, because the federal government could not agree on a position.