Rider directive: final green light from EU countries to improve working conditions on digital platforms

Final green light from EU Member States for directive on the rights of digital platform workers, such as riders. The EU Environment Council in Luxembourg confirmed the agreement reached with member states on 11 March 2024 on new rules to improve conditions for people working for online platforms, regulating the use of algorithm systems in the workplace for the first time. Only Germany abstained. In a note, the Council recalls that the directive will now be signed by the Council and the European Parliament and will enter into force after publication in the Official Journal of the EU. Member states will then have two years to adapt their national law to the new EU rules..

New European rules adopted by the EU Council aim to improve working conditions for the more than 28 million people who work on digital work platforms across Europe. The directive on platform work," the Council writes, "will make the use of algorithms in human resources management more transparent, ensuring that automated systems are monitored by qualified staff and that workers have the right to challenge automated decisions. It will also help to correctly determine the employment status of people working for platforms, allowing them to benefit from all labour rights to which they are entitled. Member States will establish a legal presumption of employment in their legal systems that will be triggered when certain facts are found that indicate control and direction.

"The final approval by the European Council of the directive for platform workers is important news to guarantee full rights on contracts and working conditions in this sector. Now it is up to Italy to do its part, and it must be done urgently. We can be pioneers in receiving regulations that will give justice to one of the most exploited and precarious categories of workers'. Thus the Pd Senator, Annamaria Furlan, member of the Labour and Health Commission. "There is a problem of classification that must be resolved, because platform workers are equated with self-employed workers, who are denied the right to holidays and sick pay and a secure employment contract," added the PD senator.

"Again, there is the question of the communication of platforms with national authorities and the transparency of algorithms. Now, thanks to the European directive, the mandatory principle of human supervision of work processes is enshrined. No more automatic dismissals via WhatsApp, we all remember the dramatic episode of the algorithm that dismissed a worker who had died while making a delivery. There is a need for clear rules that focus on the protection of workers and the right to a safe and adequately paid job,' Furlan concluded.