The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has urged the European Parliament to confirm, on 19 January, the vote of Parliament’s Committee on Employment, on 12 December, in favour of the report by Elisabetta Gualmini (S&D, Italian) on digital platform workers (see EUROPE 13083/31).
The unions “fear that members of the EPP, ECR and Renew Europe will vote against in order to further weaken the European Commission’s draft Directive”, says the ETUC. “In particular, they are concerned that the changes advocated by some MEPs will encourage bogus self-employed people to give up becoming employees or reduce the rights of genuine self-employed people”.
By early Tuesday 17 January, 85 signatures had been collected to proceed to a vote to confirm the mandate on 19 January (70 signatures are needed).
In Strasbourg, The Left’s shadow rapporteur, Frenchwoman Leïla Chaibi, expressed some optimism that the French delegations of the EPP and Renew Europe Groups would support the ambitious text voted in the Committee on Employment. Other observers felt that the vote could remain close, although still in favour of the Italian’s mandate.
The Greens/EFA Group has launched a petition to prevent Uber from derailing the vote.
EUROPE will continue to follow this story.
Link to the petition: https://aeur.eu/f/4x6 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with Damien Genicot)