The EU directive on working conditions for workers on digital platforms is “fair” and will help set “fair and equal conditions” within the internal market, the Czech Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Marian Jurečka, said during a public briefing on the subject on Thursday 16 June in Luxembourg.
The Czech Presidency of the EU Council will do its utmost to reach a political agreement by December 2022, the minister added, announcing a first working meeting on 14 July.
The proposal was in any case positively received by the ministers, who on Thursday gave their first public reactions to the text.
The European directive presented by the Commission in December aims to provide a framework for the development of the sector and to accompany it with progress on the social front. The Commission’s directive aims in particular to create a rebuttable presumption of employment, automatically reclassifying the status of ‘false self-employed’ on the basis of clear criteria proving the subordination link. The proposal puts the burden of proof on the platforms and also increases transparency in the algorithmic management of platform work.
“The objective criteria on which this legal presumption (of salaried status) is based are at the very heart of the proposal”, said Commissioner Nicolas Schmit. “It provides more legal certainty, will avoid misclassification which leads to legal disputes and will also avoid labour law treatments which do not comply with the general rules”.
The French Presidency of the EU Council has clarified the text of the directive in recent months and published a first draft compromise (see EUROPE 12963/17) which was well received by Member States. The aim was to clarify the legal bases, to outline the distinction between employees and self-employed, to reconfirm the criteria for triggering the legal presumption, which have remained unchanged, and to clarify the reversal of the legal presumption (based on platforms), explained the French Minister Olivier Dussopt, wishing the Czech Presidency good luck.
During the public debate, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Spain insisted on the need to accompany the evolution of this work model with social progress, while not “blocking” the development of this sector, said the Luxembourg minister.
Italy, but also Spain, has insisted as well on transparency in the algorithmic management of platform work, with Madrid having recently set up “a public tool for algorithmic transparency” that could inspire the work, said Yolanda Díaz.
Denmark also supported the principles of this directive, but asked that it should not call into question the organisation of national working patterns and the autonomy of the social partners. Greece supported as well the objectives of the directive, but called for caution in its scope and warned against overly broad decisions that could go against what the workers hope for.
Today, 18 million people work for digital platforms in the EU, and by 2025 there will be 40 million.
EPP group in the European Parliament opposes Ms Gualmini’s report
The Parliament is continuing its examination of the directive. Amendments to the report by Elisabetta Gualmini (S&D, Italy) were tabled on 8 June.
The EPP group in the European Parliament already wants to review the basis of the Italian’s report, which goes too far in relation to the directive deemed, at present, too ambitious, since the MEP has decided to “abolish the presumption of employment in all senses of the word and replace it with rules that would lead to compulsory employment for anyone working via digital platforms”, the group recently explained in an op-ed in Politico.
The EPP already states that the reclassification criteria introduced by the Commission are too broad and would now cover the vast majority of platform workers.
The amendments are expected to be discussed, in principle, on 11 and 12 July in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)