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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Slovenia
The Slovenian Association of Free Trade Unions (ZSSS) has drawn attention to the precarious working conditions of platform workers and unfair competition among platform businesses and aims to motivate authorities to implement stricter regulation, especially in the light of the acceleration of platform work due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On 16 November 2021, ZSSS published a resolution on fair working conditions in the platform economy. In particular, it stresses the need to include all workers via such platforms in social protection schemes, enable them to collectively negotiate their rights and organise, and refers to the central question of the employment relationship between employers and platform workers, which is often mediated via opaque algorithms.
ZSSS points out that platforms should provide information on their algorithmic management and that it should be under constant control. The trade union confederation furthermore demands that platform workers must be granted employee status in order to gain access to employment rights and social protection. For the purpose of law enforcement, ZSSS finds that inspection services (such as the Slovenian Labour Inspectorate) have to be trained adequately in order to monitor platform business practices (including health and safety precautions at work).
Among others this is a response to the recent ease of regulations in the taxi sector by the Road Transport Act, which allows ride hailing platforms such as Uber to enter the Slovenian market without a having a regulatory framework that ensures decent working conditions in the sector. The Slovenian government announced that it plans to analyse possible changes to platform work regulation, which are said to be tied to social dialogue negotiations.
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.
