EU ministers agree on riders: “They are like employees”

BRUSSELS. The governments of the European Union have reached an agreement on the directive to protect the rights of workers on online platforms, such as riders who deliver food at home or private drivers who offer a taxi service on behalf of apps such as Uber. With the new rules, if definitively approved, many of them will be able to obtain the same guarantees that employees are entitled to, as well as greater transparency on the functioning of the algorithms that dictate the rhythms of their working day. In fact, these are the first rules on the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace.

The agreement arrived with great difficulty after a year and a half of negotiations and only thanks to a qualified majority vote, without the go-ahead from some “big names” such as the governments of Germany and Spain who abstained. Madrid, in particular, asked for more ambitious rules, while the compromise arrived today on the table of the ministers of Labor and Social Affairs is the result of a downward agreement. However, the text is not yet definitive: negotiations with the European Parliament will begin shortly, with the aim of concluding by the end of the European legislature. After that, it will be up to the governments to translate the principles enshrined in the directive into their respective national laws.

In Europe there are 28 million workers in the so-called “gig-economy”: many of these are forced to follow the rules and restrictions as if they were employees without actually being one. For this reason, the first objective of the directive, proposed by the European Commission in December 2021, is precisely to define the criteria for establishing the correct status of the worker. The ministers have established seven and it will be enough to satisfy three of them to obtain the status of employee and obtain the related rights, such as the minimum wage or social protection.

Here are the seven criteria listed in the legal text: the platform determines upper limits for the salary level; the platform requires that the worker respects specific rules regarding the appearance and conduct towards the recipient of the service; the platform also controls the execution of the work electronically; the platform limits the worker’s freedom to organize their working time, including periods of absence; the platform limits the discretion to accept or refuse assignments; the platform limits the possibility of using subcontracts or substitutes; the platform limits the ability to build a client base or perform work for third parties. In addition, workers will need to be informed about the use of data by algorithms.

The gig-economy sector is constantly expanding: the turnover in Europe has gone from 3 billion euros in 2016 to 14 billion in 2020, mainly in the sector of home delivery meals or taxis. According to Commission estimates, the number of employed workers will rise to 43 million by 2035.