Today on Politico: Get serious on workers’ rights and the platform economy!
- Erna van der Werff
- Feb 25, 2021
- 1 min read
GIG WORKERS’ RIGHTS: The Socialist and Democrats group wants the Commission to get serious on workers’ rights in general, and in the platform economy in particular. In a letter dated Wednesday and seen by Playbook, group Chair Iratxe García called on von der Leyen to be more ambitious than the Commission has so far shown readiness to be. “The rebuttable assumption of an employment relationship should be the cornerstone of regulating platform work,” the letter says.
Legislation wanted: The Socialist group requests this principle be included in a “directive on decent working conditions and rights in the digital economy,” which should cover “all workers, including non-standard workers on atypical contracts, workers in platform companies and the self-employed.”
Not so fast: The Commission on Wednesday opened a consultation for “possible EU action to improve the working conditions in platform work,” it said, with the aim being a “balanced initiative,” according to Jobs Commissioner Nicolas Schmit. The feedback the Commission wants is important because “there is not white and black or there is not just one-size-fits-all. There is a big variety in the world of platforms,” Schmit said. More.
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