EU targets Uber and other apps with plan to recognize platform workers’ rights

The European Commission announced on Thursday a series of projects to give employee benefits to workers on online platforms such as Uber and Deliveroo, which the companies say could lead to job losses.

The proposal, a pioneering initiative in the world that must be negotiated with the countries of the European Union and community legislators before becoming law, is the most recent attempt by the bloc to regulate companies in the so-called ‘gig’ economy and guarantee equal conditions.

“No one is trying to kill, slow down or hinder the development of the platform economy,” Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights Nicholas Schmit told a press conference to present the proposals.

However, rules are necessary to ensure that new business models respect labor laws, he added.

The EU executive argued that the draft rules could apply to some 4.1 million of the 28 million workers of online platform companies in the 27 countries of the bloc.

Internet companies that set the salary and standards of conduct for their workers will have to classify them as employees entitled to a minimum wage, paid vacations and a pension, according to the regulatory project.

Reactions to the EU plan were mixed: Jitse Groen, CEO of Europe’s largest food delivery company, Just Eat Takeaway.com, which also owns Grubhub in the United States, said he welcomed it.

However, Delivery Platforms Europe, a lobby group that includes Uber, Deliveroo, Glovo and Delivery Hero, said in a statement that part-time drivers wanted flexibility in their working hours and that the regulations , as proposed, would cause job losses.

Petra Bolster of the Dutch union FNV, which won lawsuits against Deliveroo and Uber over employment, said the proposal included a list of five tests that help determine when the delivery men were self-employed.

“The authentic autonomous of the platforms will be protected thanks to a greater legal certainty about their status and there will be new safeguards against the traps of algorithmic management. This is an important step towards a more social digital economy, ”EU Digital Chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.