Employees of online delivery services or car service brokers from the so-called “gig economy” should be better protected in the EU. A majority of member states voted in favor of such a law on Monday.
According to the will of the EU countries, anyone who meets three of the seven criteria will be considered an employee in the future. These include limited options for refusing work and rules on employee behavior.
“Currently, most of the 28 million platform workers in the EU, including taxi drivers, domestic workers and food delivery drivers, are formally self-employed,” said Sweden’s EU presidency. However, there are indications that in some cases they are actually employees and that they can actually claim additional rights.
Minimum wage and regulated working hours
The plans still have to be negotiated with the European Parliament, which will decide on this. They fall back on a proposal from the European Commission. It wants to ensure that millions of workers are entitled to a minimum wage and regulated working hours.
Germany abstained from voting at the EU ministerial meeting in Luxembourg. The project was criticized by the FDP, which is part of the federal government. MEP Svenja Hahn spoke about an attack on solo self-employed. According to the Swedish presidency of the EU Council, Germany and Spain, Estonia, Greece and Latvia do not support the project.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
