EU Parliament approves better working conditions for delivery services
Platform workers will have more rights vis-à-vis their employers. This has now been finally decided by the EU Parliament.
(Bild: EU-Kommission)
The EU Parliament has voted in favor of better rights for millions of workers on online platforms. With 554 votes in favor, 56 against and 24 abstentions, MEPs voted in Strasbourg on Wednesday in favor of new regulations that are intended to prevent bogus self-employment, among other things. In the future, unlike previously, employment will be presumed: companies will have to prove that no employment relationship exists. This is intended to correct "the imbalance of power between a person performing platform work and the digital work platform", according to the EU Parliament.
The law is also intended to regulate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace: Accordingly, a person working on a platform may not be dismissed based on a decision made by an algorithm or automated decision-making system. Platforms must ensure that important decisions that have a direct impact on their employees are monitored by humans.
30 million platform workers
Platforms are also prohibited from processing certain types of personal data. Specifically, this includes data about a person's emotional or mental state and personal beliefs, for example.
The new rights are based on a proposal made by the EU Commission in December 2021. Since then, it has passed through negotiations in the EU Council and Parliament; the EU member states still have to approve the proposal, but this is considered a formality.
According to the EU Commission, almost 30 million people in the EU work as so-called platform workers. This refers to people who offer their services via an online platform – for example, as a food delivery person or driver. According to Commission estimates, around 5.5 million of these people are bogus self-employed.
"Record turnover on the backs of platform workers"
"In recent years, many companies have generated record turnover on the backs of platform workers, who often work for them as bogus self-employed without social security. The new rules will provide millions of workers with better working conditions, wages and social security," said Gaby Bischoff, spokesperson for labor and social policy for the European Social Democrats.
Once the Council has given its approval and the directive has been published in the Official Journal of the EU, the member states will have two years to incorporate the provisions into their national legislation.
(anw)
