It started as a very ambitious directive and has ended up in limbo. European countries yesterday again rejected a European rider law to improve the conditions of workers on online platforms. It was the second attempt, but in the end it did not get the necessary endorsement, especially because of France’s rejection.
Only a week after the institutions of the European Union reached a principle of agreement for the second time on the European rider law, France again rejected a regulation already very decaffeinated, precisely because of last-minute concessions in Paris.
The European Commission proposed a law two years ago partly inspired by the Spanish law, which aspired to bring order and legal certainty to the almost 30 million workers of platforms such as Deliveroo or Glovo if a series of conditions were met. In December, under the baton of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU, an agreement was reached between the European institutions, but it was rejected, mainly by France and Germany. By virtue of the agreement, it was approved that a worker was considered employed on behalf of another if two of five conditions were met. These included the existence of maximum limits on the amount of money workers can receive or whether there is supervision over the execution of the work.
However, this formula did not convince the French Government and that is why the Belgian presidency offered to eliminate these conditions and offered an “a la carte” system that determined that a worker for another’s account is a worker if there is a mechanism of supervision and control, in addition to taking into account any regulation based on collective agreements. It also left it up to the platform to refute the labor relationship with the workers.
Despite the concessions both in France and on the platforms, the measure has not convinced and Paris voted against it because it insists that the law be regulated according to collective agreements; while Germany – due to divisions within their own Government -, Greece and Estonia have abstained and have left the law practically adrift and with little probability of prospering a third time. “We believe that this directive, which aimed to take a step forward for this type of worker, has come a long way. Now we will study the next steps”, lamented the rotating presidency of the Council, held by Belgium. Now they are analyzing a plan B, but due to the short time left for the legislature, barely four months, it will be very difficult to propose something different that will convince the countries.
Spain, for its part, did vote in favor of it, although it added a statement in which it regretted that the directive needed “more ambition”, since it is far removed from the spirit of the initial proposal of the Executive. In fact, according to the Ministry of Labour, the law that came out as a result of the negotiations in December was “more respectful of workers’ rights”.
