THE European Parliament and European Union struck a deal today on rules to strengthen conditions for those working through apps, such as ride-hailing drivers.

Under the new law, many platform workers in Europe could be reclassified as employees and therefore gain access to labour and social protection rights, parliament said.

At least 5.5 million people could be “wrongly classified as self-employed”, it said.

There are around 28 million gig workers dependent on online platforms in Europe, with the number expected to rise to 43 million in 2025.

“This is a revolutionary agreement and the first legislative framework for digital platform workers,” said MEP Elisabetta Gualmini, the rapporteur who spearheaded the text in parliament.

“We have transparency and accountability for algorithms, we have better rights for the least protected workers in the world and we have fair competition for platforms,” she said.

The rules stipulate if workers fulfil two out of five “indicators of control or direction”, it would be presumed they were employees.

EU members could expand the list, while workers could lobby EU members to expand the list as well.

The rules also said platform workers should be able to access information on how an app’s algorithms work and how their behaviour affects decisions taken by automated systems.

No platform would be able to sack workers or suspend accounts without human oversight, parliament said.

There were also stricter rules on personal data, forbidding platforms to process data including personal beliefs and private exchanges with colleagues.

EU Jobs and Social Rights Commissioner Nicolas Schmit welcomed the deal.

“Riders and drivers will get social and labour rights they are entitled to. Platforms will gain legal certainty,” Schmit said on social media.

The text will become law once formally adopted by EU members and parliament. – AFP, December 13, 2023.