Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • Strategic autonomy
    • War in Ukraine
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter

Trade unions take on platform companies in the struggle for decent work

Ludovic Voet 7th October 2021

On World Day of Decent Work, the European Trade Union Confederation puts the spotlight on justice for platform workers.

SE

In the brave new world of the digital economy, workers in platform companies are still workers. They just don’t have the rights to which all workers in Europe should be entitled.

Work may have moved to the digital space but people exist in the real world. Their need for decent working conditions and pay, security and safety has not gone away. To defend them, trade unions need to be attractive and effective.

Unions around Europe—often working together across borders—are taking action to organise workers in platform companies and bargain on their behalf, challenge their status and press decision-makers to enact law. The European Trade Union Confederation is calling for European Union legislation to establish a rebuttable presumption-of-employment relationship, switching the balance of power and putting the burden of proof on the company, not the individual.

Every platform company is or can be an employer, through algorithm management. Platform companies should have to prove that they truly operate with independent service providers before they can do what they want.


Our job is keeping you informed!


Subscribe to our free newsletter and stay up to date with the latest Social Europe content. We will never send you spam and you can unsubscribe anytime.

Sign up here

Evading responsibility

Platform companies are expanding in a wide range of sectors, from transport and food delivery to retail, teaching, care and domestic services. Many such services are longstanding and there is no reason why workers in these sectors should suddenly be treated differently.

Yet platform companies continue to evade their responsibilities to workers and society, generating precariousness and risking health and safety, as well as avoiding the fiscal and social-security obligations any other European company must respect. While platforms claim to be merely contact points, in reality they impose work regimes. Workers are subordinated by digital means.

We need to change the narrative and dismiss the myth that platform work offers ‘freedom’. Workers are not self-employed, because their actions and availability are tightly controlled by company algorithms, preventing them from taking on other clients.

Platform work reproduces and reinforces the same bargaining and power inequality found in any other labour relationship, so unions must explore new ways to organise and represent workers who are often alone and isolated. Listening to their needs and concerns is the vital first step.

Legal challenges

Almost 200 legal challengeshave been launched—many successfully—in a variety of countries, with judges in France, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and elsewhere ruling that platform workers are employees. In Italy, the Court of Milan has established that riders working for different digital platforms (Foodinho, Glovo, UberEats, JustEat and Deliveroo) cannot be considered as occasional independent workers but must be reclassified as employees. A recent court case initiated by FNV in the Netherlands concluded that Uber is an employer—its workers hence employees—and that the collective agreement of the taxi service should be applied.

Such cases are an effective way to apply pressure on platform companies, but they are often slow, expensive and time-consuming for unions—and an ordeal for the individuals concerned. Moreover, they highlight the loopholes surrounding workers’ status which must be removed by national and EU-wide legislation.

European rules are vital to create legal certainty and a level playing-field for competition. A presumption-of-employment relationship brings that certainty to workers and to platform companies that respect the rules—those working with employees or genuinely self-employed. Once legislation is established, collective bargaining is the most effective way to improve conditions for platform workers and to enforce labour rights, and companies should be obliged by law to negotiate.

Regulating algorithms is a priority. Digital algorithms function as managers, assessing performance and clients’ ratings and defining pay and working conditions. Yet they lack human oversight and are often based on discriminatory assumptions. They must be transparent and subject to human arbitration, with trade unions involved in their development and monitoring. Rules are needed to force companies to explain their working methods and use of data.


We need your support


Social Europe is an independent publisher and we believe in freely available content. For this model to be sustainable, however, we depend on the solidarity of our readers. Become a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month and help us produce more articles, podcasts and videos. Thank you very much for your support!

Become a Social Europe Member

Many platform companies are multinationals, so regulation is a global issue. Where and under what jurisdiction is work managed and performed? Where does responsibility lie and how can rules be enforced? These are major questions also for tax authorities. In confronting a global phenomenon, unions are increasingly collaborating, including with other stakeholders in society.

Contact and organising

Communication is vital in the efforts to defend workers in platform companies, and ‘social media’ and other digital tools provide new opportunities for contact and organising. The Digital Platform Observatory is one outcome of a two-year project led by the ETUC with the French Institute IRES and the ASTREES organisation. It maps platform work, legal cases and practices of worker representation and social dialogue, country-by-country. The project has also launched coaching sessions and a ‘toolbox’ with practical advice, to assist trade unionists in organising workers and securing negotiations.

In spite of the platforms’ hostile attitude towards trade unions in their companies, union activity has intensified across Europe. Unions in Germany, Austria and France have set up physical spaces for riders to meet, rest or repair their bikes and won compensation for riders who use their own equipment. Inspired by activities in other countries, in Belgium three years ago the CSC confederation set up United Freelancers, to support self-employed workers, and riders’ groups and collectives now operate in France and Austria.

In Italy, unions have ‘met’ Amazon riders using digital tools and reached agreements on standards with local authorities. National collective agreements in the Italian transport and logistics sector define the work of JustEat riders. In the Netherlands, the FNV is targeting forced (‘bogus’) self-employment and winning more and more legal victories.

Inspired by the success of the German union IG Metall in organising YouTubers, the Spanish UGT confederation reached out to people who make their living creating online content, whose work is often governed by unaccountable algorithms. It is in the process of setting up a union for content creators and developing guidance for collective bargaining in the ‘social media’ sector. In Serbia, unions put a stop to government plans to impose higher taxes on some groups of self-employed workers such as translators.

In several countries, workers have got together to set up works councils, which can play a useful role in improving health and safety, for example. Elsewhere, strikes, work stoppages and public petitions have also boosted demands for justice for workers in platform companies.

Game-changer

Experience has shown that legislation can be a game-changer: in Spain, trade unions are securing collective agreements because of the new ‘riders’ law’, even though some companies are still trying to get around it. Following extensive consultation, the European Commission has promised to publish a draft directive by the end of the year.

Besides the rebuttable presumption-of-employment relationship, the ETUC insists that such a directivemust establish the right of workers in platform companies to collective bargaining. It must set rules for data collection and privacy. It must require companies to be transparent about their working methods and consult unions in the development of algorithms. It must set minimum standards—practical and ethical—for both workers and clients. It must guarantee the health and safety of platform workers, combat the inequalities undermining European society and affirm clearly that no third employment status is needed to achieve these goals.

Inevitably, some companies will try to circumvent legal restrictions, so unions must have powers to monitor enforcement. Ultimately, when companies shirk their responsibility to provide social protection for workers, they offload this on to the state. A presumption of employment would also protect genuinely self-employed workers, who should be able to compensate for their lack of employee rights through higher fees.

In the past, some unions may have been guilty of excluding freelance workers—whether genuine or otherwise. Now we know we must be open to all workers. Otherwise, there is a risk that companies will set up their own ‘yellow’ unions or—as happened in Italy—reach pirate agreements with extreme right-wing, non-representative organisations.

October 7th is the annual World Day of Decent Work and this year the ETUC is focusing action on workers in platform companies and ensuring platform companies respect the rules. The EU must act on its pledge to put high social standards at the heart of the digital transformation. A strong directive is the only way to secure a fair future for Europe’s digital economy.

This column is sponsored by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).
World Day of Decent Work,platform companies, ETUC
Ludovic Voet

Ludovic Voet was elected confederal secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation in 2019.

You are here: Home / Economy / Trade unions take on platform companies in the struggle for decent work

Most Popular Posts

Russian soldiers' mothers,war,Ukraine The Ukraine war and Russian soldiers’ mothersJennifer Mathers and Natasha Danilova
IGU,documents,International Gas Union,lobby,lobbying,sustainable finance taxonomy,green gas,EU,COP ‘Gaslighting’ Europe on fossil fuelsFaye Holder
Schengen,Fortress Europe,Romania,Bulgaria Romania and Bulgaria stuck in EU’s second tierMagdalena Ulceluse
income inequality,inequality,Gini,1 per cent,elephant chart,elephant Global income inequality: time to revise the elephantBranko Milanovic
Orbán,Hungary,Russia,Putin,sanctions,European Union,EU,European Parliament,commission,funds,funding Time to confront Europe’s rogue state—HungaryStephen Pogány

Most Recent Posts

reality check,EU foreign policy,Russia Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—a reality check for the EUHeidi Mauer, Richard Whitman and Nicholas Wright
permanent EU investment fund,Recovery and Resilience Facility,public investment,RRF Towards a permanent EU investment fundPhilipp Heimberger and Andreas Lichtenberger
sustainability,SDGs,Finland Embedding sustainability in a government programmeJohanna Juselius
social dialogue,social partners Social dialogue must be at the heart of Europe’s futureClaes-Mikael Ståhl
Jacinda Ardern,women,leadership,New Zealand What it means when Jacinda Ardern calls timePeter Davis

Other Social Europe Publications

front cover scaled Towards a social-democratic century?
Cover e1655225066994 National recovery and resilience plans
Untitled design The transatlantic relationship
Women Corona e1631700896969 500 Women and the coronavirus crisis
sere12 1 RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?

ILO advertisement

Global Wage Report 2022-23: The impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power

The International Labour Organization's Global Wage Report is a key reference on wages and wage inequality for the academic community and policy-makers around the world.

This eighth edition of the report, The Impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power, examines the evolution of real wages, giving a unique picture of wage trends globally and by region. The report includes evidence on how wages have evolved through the COVID-19 crisis as well as how the current inflationary context is biting into real wage growth in most regions of the world. The report shows that for the first time in the 21st century real wage growth has fallen to negative values while, at the same time, the gap between real productivity growth and real wage growth continues to widen.

The report analysis the evolution of the real total wage bill from 2019 to 2022 to show how its different components—employment, nominal wages and inflation—have changed during the COVID-19 crisis and, more recently, during the cost-of-living crisis. The decomposition of the total wage bill, and its evolution, is shown for all wage employees and distinguishes between women and men. The report also looks at changes in wage inequality and the gender pay gap to reveal how COVID-19 may have contributed to increasing income inequality in different regions of the world. Together, the empirical evidence in the report becomes the backbone of a policy discussion that could play a key role in a human-centred recovery from the different ongoing crises.


DOWNLOAD HERE

ETUI advertisement

The EU recovery strategy: a blueprint for a more Social Europe or a house of cards?

This new ETUI paper explores the European Union recovery strategy, with a focus on its potentially transformative aspects vis-à-vis European integration and its implications for the social dimension of the EU’s socio-economic governance. In particular, it reflects on whether the agreed measures provide sufficient safeguards against the spectre of austerity and whether these constitute steps away from treating social and labour policies as mere ‘variables’ of economic growth.


DOWNLOAD HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Eurofound webinar: Making telework work for everyone

Since 2020 more European workers and managers have enjoyed greater flexibility and autonomy in work and are reporting their preference for hybrid working. Also driven by technological developments and structural changes in employment, organisations are now integrating telework more permanently into their workplace.

To reflect on these shifts, on 6 December Eurofound researchers Oscar Vargas and John Hurley explored the challenges and opportunities of the surge in telework, as well as the overall growth of telework and teleworkable jobs in the EU and what this means for workers, managers, companies and policymakers.


WATCH THE WEBINAR HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

The winter issue of the Progressive Post magazine from FEPS is out!

The sequence of recent catastrophes has thrust new words into our vocabulary—'polycrisis', for example, even 'permacrisis'. These challenges have multiple origins, reinforce each other and cannot be tackled individually. But could they also be opportunities for the EU?

This issue offers compelling analyses on the European health union, multilateralism and international co-operation, the state of the union, political alternatives to the narrative imposed by the right and much more!


DOWNLOAD HERE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

The macroeconomic effects of re-applying the EU fiscal rules

Against the background of the European Commission's reform plans for the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), this policy brief uses the macroeconometric multi-country model NiGEM to simulate the macroeconomic implications of the most relevant reform options from 2024 onwards. Next to a return to the existing and unreformed rules, the most prominent options include an expenditure rule linked to a debt anchor.

Our results for the euro area and its four biggest economies—France, Italy, Germany and Spain—indicate that returning to the rules of the SGP would lead to severe cuts in public spending, particularly if the SGP rules were interpreted as in the past. A more flexible interpretation would only somewhat ease the fiscal-adjustment burden. An expenditure rule along the lines of the European Fiscal Board would, however, not necessarily alleviate that burden in and of itself.

Our simulations show great care must be taken to specify the expenditure rule, such that fiscal consolidation is achieved in a growth-friendly way. Raising the debt ceiling to 90 per cent of gross domestic product and applying less demanding fiscal adjustments, as proposed by the IMK, would go a long way.


DOWNLOAD HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us

RSS Feed

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube