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The European Union wants to force digital platforms to regularize four million workers

The European Union wants the digital platforms operating in the EU, who are mainly dedicated to the distribution of food and merchandise, regularize the situation of its more than four million workers, which in most cases operate as self-employed workers, and make them your workers, with a contract and with the associated labor protections. The Commission estimates that the new regulations it wants to implement would affect between 1.7 and 4.1 million people, of the 28 million who currently work for some 500 online platforms in the 27 countries that make up the EU.

Thus, it has announced a proposal of rules, which largely takes as a starting point the Rider Law of Spain with which companies like Glovo had to register their distributors, which contains rules to give riders and other people who They work for better social rights digital platforms. As is to be expected, the affected companies assure that if this type of regulation is implemented there will be job losses, in addition to suggesting that they would go to court to avoid having to apply them.

The proposal, which will be global and needs to be thoroughly discussed with European Union member countries and EU legislators before it can become law, is the latest attempt by the European Union to regulate the functioning of the platforms. and also to ensure a more equal ground. The platforms that establish payments and standards of conduct for their workers will have to classify them as employees, with a contract, a minimum wage, paid vacations and pension rights, according to the proposed regulations.

In addition, companies will also be considered employers if they monitor work performance through electronic means, restrict the ability of workers to choose their hours or tasks, or prevent them from working for third parties. In addition, these rules make companies that work with rider, food delivery apps and other companies more transparent about the use they make of algorithms to monitor and evaluate workers, as well as to assign tasks and rates.

As stated by the Vice President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, Margrethe Vestager, «More and more jobs are created by digital platforms, so we must guarantee decent working conditions for all those who obtain their income from this type of work. Our proposal for a Directive will help false self-employed workers who work for platforms to correctly determine their employment situation and to enjoy all the social rights that this entails. Real freelancers who work on platforms will be protected by means of greater legal certainty in relation to their employment situation and there will be new guarantees against the difficulties of algorithmic management. We are taking an important step towards a more social digital economy«.

The adoption of these regulations would open the possibility that companies that do not comply with them may be fined, because the responsibility for compliance with the regulations would fall on them, and not on the workers. Also thanks to the regulations, workers will have the opportunity to request compensation. Apart from this, when the rule enters into force it could raise tax collection in EU member states by 4.5 billion of dollars each year, according to estimates by the European Commission.

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