Platform economy database
Database of initiatives and court cases in the EU
Eurofound’s platform economy database provides information on 386 initiatives and court cases that exist or have been implemented in relation to activities in the platform economy. The database was last updated in February 2024 and provides metadata for each entry, such as geographical scope, year, type of initiative, actors involved, sector and companies concerned. Initiatives include legal instruments such as legislative changes or court decisions, as well as voluntary interventions undertaken by different stakeholders to address issues around platform work.
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The database currently contains 386 entries and was last updated in February 2024.
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Spain
The first collective agreement for platform workers was signed in Spain between the trade union confederations CCOO and UGT, and the delivery platform Just Eat. It came into effect in January 2022. This follows the establishment of the Spanish Riders’ Law, which lays out that riders are to be considered employees due to their dependence on the platform’s algorithm. The law came into force in August 2021.
The agreement guarantees 30 days annual leave, a maximum working day of nine hours and ensures that health and safety protection for delivery workers is provided by the company. The workers are furthermore entitled to two uninterrupted days of rest a week including one Sunday per quarter, in addition to a minimum of 30 days of holiday per year. The annual wage is set in the agreement at €15 232, or €1 270 per month. The latter relates to studies by the International Labour Organization showing that the primary concern among platform workers is income insecurity while income from the job tends to be below the minimum wage in many countries.
Delivery workers will also have the right to disconnect and be protected from digital surveillance. In this sense, the platform is obliged to respect the right to data protection and to inform workers’ representatives about the algorithm it uses to manage work. A joint committee must be created (the ‘algorithm committee’), which will ensure that the platform complies with the duties of transparency and human judgement in algorithmic decision-making.
The mobile phone and all other equipment (vehicle and food box) used by a worker to perform tasks must be provided by the platform. In case a vehicle belongs to the worker, the platform must pay compensation for maintenance. The costs of the tools used in performing tasks are to be assumed by the platform, not the worker as is the case in most countries.
The agreement further defines the open-ended contract as the standard contract, with a fixed employment quota of 80 percent meaning that temporary workers cannot exceed 20 percent among a platform’s employees. Part-time contracting is still possible but with a minimum of 12 hours on weekends and a minimum of 16 hours for the full week. This rules out mini part-time contracts of short duration.
The platform economy is one of those moving targets, which, despite receiving increasing media and policy attention, has proven difficult to regulate. Given the heterogeneity of employment relationships, business models, types of platform work and cross-border issues, this is not surprising.
Technological change is accelerating as the capacity of electronic devices to digitally store, process and communicate information expands. Digitalisation is transforming the EU economy and labour markets: nearly one-third of EU workplaces are categorised as highly digitalised. What are the implications of the digital revolution for employment and work?
The rapid rise of the platform economy has led to a marked transformation of European labour markets, and existing regulatory frameworks and voluntary initiatives have yet to catch up. While platform work offers opportunities for workers and employers and potentially contributes to innovation, economic growth and competitiveness in the EU, it has been criticised from the beginning because of the poor employment and working conditions often experienced by workers.
While 2020 may come to be seen as the year platform work gathered pace and started to go mainstream – thanks in large part to COVID-19 containment measures sparking an increase in food and grocery delivery – 2021 could be the year that regulation of platform work is set in motion.
