The EU Commission plans to improve the working conditions of platform workers, so-called gigworkers. To this end, the committee sought an exchange with trade unions and employer representatives.

You work for transport services like Uber, for food delivery services like Lieferando or for portals like Fiverr on a wide variety of tasks, from visiting card design to programming apps. But they all have one thing in common: the jobs are insecure and precarious. Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, who has already tackled numerous things related to the digital economy, now wants to work to ensure that “these new forms of work remain sustainable and fair”. Sounds like a difficult undertaking. Because even if classic labor law principles also apply here, there is a lot of freedom for the operators of such platforms – often to the detriment of those who take on such orders.

The exchange that started this week is initially open-ended. The German Federal Ministry of Labor still wants to dismiss the phenomenon of platform workers as a marginal phenomenon and in most cases more of a side income, but it is clear that platform activities of all kinds are increasing and, especially after the pandemic, certain areas of responsibility could be carried out remotely more naturally than before. This also applies, for example, to the numerous personal assistant positions with different orientations. In addition, there are numerous tasks in the field of delivery services, which have grown particularly strongly in the last few months.

Unequal balance of power in platform work

Conversely, the pandemic has also left its mark on platform work, also because gigworkers are particularly exposed to health risks during the crisis, such as the EU Commission has recognized. Around 5.6 million EU citizens have already sold their services at least once via a Clickworker or Gig Economy platform – that’s one in nine of the working population in EU countries. Three million Europeans regularly do this as their main source of income.

Trade unions, which increasingly take up the issue, criticize that here often unequal power relations mean that gigworkers get off financially poorly, can hardly fight for better working conditions and in most cases also have to pay for their work equipment, such as the company bike as a bicycle courier.

For many, platform work is not an emergency solution, but a desired form of work

Platform workers often value the flexibility of their work opportunities, so that said part-time job solutions are actually quite possible here. On the other hand, they buy this freedom with inadequate security and poor working conditions. This has been shown by a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation.

The aim of the EU Commission should be platform work Working conditions are at least as good as those of employees and self-employed. Vestager explains that this should apply to both online and offline work. On the one hand, standards could arise on the basis of voluntary agreements between the social partners or they could be regulated by law. Initially, the Commission apparently wants to rely on self-regulation, but has already promised to present its own regulation or directive by the end of the year.

On the one hand, it is about financial issues, but also about basic insurance law and social rules, about training and representing the interests of platform workers. A lot of work that has to be done by everyone involved. One can assume, however, that Margarethe Vestager will ensure tangible results in case of doubt, as the Commission Vice-President and Commissioner for Digital Issues has proven often enough in recent years.

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