Platform economy database
Database of initiatives and court cases in the EU
Eurofound’s platform economy database provides information on 281 initiatives and court cases that exist or have been implemented in relation to activities in the platform economy. The database was last updated in December 2022 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 281 entries and was last updated in December 2022.
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United Kingdom
In 2019, GMB (a union affiliated to the Trades Union Congress ) and the delivery company Hermes signed a collective bargaining agreement in the UK for self-employed couriers in the platform economy.
Hermes’ self-employed couriers are entitled to take holiday pay and have guaranteed earnings following a ground-breaking deal between the leading consumer delivery company and GMB Union. In early 2019, GMB and Hermes signed the first-ever collective bargaining agreement in the UK for self-employed couriers in the platform economy. The agreement aims to protect the rights of self-employed worker who provide courier services to Hermes. Hermes couriers have the option to become ‘self-employed plus’, which provides a number of benefits such as holiday pay (pro-rata up to 28 days), and individually negotiated pay rates that allow couriers to earn at least £8.55 (€9.49) per hour over the year. The agreement was achieved after 200 Hermes drivers took the platform to court and the employment tribunal recognised they were workers and not self-employed in summer 2018.
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.
