Working conditions package

Key points

• The EESC welcomes the European Commission's proposal and acknowledges that platform economy opens up opportunities for both businesses and workers but also raises concerns related to the working conditions. These concerns need to be addressed and balanced solutions need to be developed at appropriate levels – European, national and through collective bargaining involving platforms
• The legal classification of the employment relationship and its clear distinction from genuine self-employment is key to ensuring legal certainty for both businesses and workers and to ensuring workers' rights and protections. The EESC supports the aim of the European Commission's legislative proposal to address the very diverse regulations in the Member States with regards to legal classification.
• The classification criteria set out in Article 4 of the proposal do not reflect the dynamic and rapid evolution of the digital market. It would be more appropriate to state that the presumption of employment operates in favour of individual workers who provide their labour and/or services under the specific functions of direction, control and/or organisational power carried out through algorithmic management exercised by the digital platform in question and therefore to set the criteria according to these functions.
• Algorithmic management has a significant impact on working conditions and should be transparent and accountable for workers and businesses. The Directive should explicitly state that the rights established in Chapter 3 apply to all situations where algorithmic management is used in an employment context.
• All platform workers should have the guaranteed right to data portability and to download their data from platforms, including data regarding skills. Additionally, further provisions should be added in order to exercise the right to review an automated or semi-automated decision.
• The EESC stresses that Article 14 of the Directive should explicitly refer to trade unions, which have the right to carry out collective bargaining. Furthermore, information and consultation rights and the right to collective bargaining should be extended to all platform workers.