EU: trade unions and several governments exhort the European Commission for the presumption of a salaried employee relationship to apply to digital platform workers

On 08 December, the European Commission is due to present a draft directive aimed at improving the working conditions and protection of platform workers. In an open letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, several EU leaders are calling for the presumption of the employment relationship to be established for all delivery drivers, passenger car drivers, and domestic workers. Signatories to the letter include Labour Ministers Hubertus Heil (Germany), Andrea Orlando (Italy), Yolanda Díaz (Spain), Ana Mendes Godinho (Portugal), and Pierre-Yves Dermagne (Belgium), as well as the Secretary General of the European Trade Union Confederation, Luca Visentini. In concrete terms, what is being sought is that the burden of proof would fall on the various platforms to establish in court that there is no subordination relationship with a worker. “The directive as announced must be in line with this approach. The starting point for legal and political measures must be that every digital work platform is or can become an employer,” they state in the open letter published by the Belgian daily, Le Soir. They refer to “measures taken in this sense in various European states” and to court decisions demonstrating that digital platforms are employers (c.f. article No.12583). Lastly, they call for transparency in algorithm price setting and in work pattern distribution as well as for social dialogue with workers’ representatives on these issues.