The Platform Work Directive has reached a crucial stage. The European Parliament’s Employment Committee has backed a text led by the parliament’s Rapporteur, Elisabetta Gualmini, which would strengthen the provisions for workers in the initial draft published by the European Commission in December 2021. A vote will take place in January of the whole Parliament on the Gualmini text.

Meanwhile, the Council of the EU failed to come to an agreement on its proposed changes, after the Czech Presidency of the Council sought to push the Directive in a pro-platform lobby direction. When the Council eventually does come to a decision, the Parliament and the Council may have to work out how to reconcile two texts moving in opposite directions.

Thus, there may still be an opportunity for workers’ to influence the final outcome of a Directive that will have a profound impact on platform workers’ rights in Europe and beyond. In that context, the recent intervention into the debate over the Directive by UK-based Worker Info Exchange (WIE) and Spanish-based The Observatory of Work, Algorithms & Society (TAS) is significant.

"Workers’ Recommendations on the Draft EU Platform Work Directive” was published by WIE and TAS earlier this month. The report is the most comprehensive proposal for how the Directive should be improved to come from worker organisations in Europe so far.

To discuss the report, and the work of WIE and TAS more broadly, the Gig Economy Project spoke to its authors. James Farrar is the founder and director of WIE, as well as General Secretary of the App Drivers & Couriers Union (ADCU), which led the historic defeat of Uber at the UK Supreme Court last year. Sergi Cutillas is an economist and researcher, who is a member of TAS and has conducted research for taxi union Elité Taxi Barcelona.

In this podcast, we discuss:

01.30: How did the collaboration between WIE and TAS come about?

08:10: A presumption of employment for platform workers?

20:21: Algorithmic management and the need for a ‘human model’ in the platform work directive

38:52: The roots of WIE and TAS, and next steps

Organising gig workers in Belgium: Interview with Martin Willems of ‘United Freelancers’

The Gig Economy ProjectBy BenDec 21, 2021