Questions Of The Platform Work Presented by: Dr. Mélypataki Date: 16 August 2023 The Basis Of Our Research - Mélypataki, G., Máté, D.A., Ningrum, P.K., Riczu, Z. (2022). Employer or Owner? The Character of Platform Work. In: Gupta, A., Tewary, T., Gopalakrishnan, B.N. (eds) Sustainability in the Gig Economy. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978981-16-8406-7_16 Background - The digital transition, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is shaping the EU economy and labor market. Digital labor platforms have become an important element of this emerging social and economic landscape. Their scale is steadily expanding, with revenues in the EU digital workforce platform economy estimated to have grown by around 500% in the last five years. Today, more than 28 million people in the EU work through digital workforce platforms. This number is expected to reach 43 million by 2025. Digital work platforms are present in many economic sectors. Some provide services "on the spot", such as freight sharing, delivery, cleaning or care services. Others provide exclusively online services such as data coding, translation or design. Platform work varies in terms of the level of skills required and how the work is organized and controlled. - Digital workforce platforms use automated systems to match labor supply and demand. Although in different ways, digital platforms use them to allocate tasks, monitor and assess the workforce and make decisions for the people working through them. Such practices are often referred to as 'algorithmic management'. While algorithmic management is increasingly being used in a growing number of places. In the wider labor market, it is clearly an integral part of the way digital workforce platforms do business. Its model includes. It creates efficiencies in matching supply and demand, while having a significant impact on the working conditions of platforms. Can We Speak About Labor Relations? - The businesses that provide the online platform for their activities claim that they are not the employers, and the individuals who profit from their work are not their employees, they are simply providing an online platform where employees and employers can meet. This argument, however, ignores the fact that these companies are in fact running an institution that has existed for decades, the recruitment agency. - In most cases, these workers are classified as "self-employed". - Businesses consider these workers to be self-employed, but there are a number of characteristics of the employment relationship that call into question their claims - A cleaning and care company called "Honor" offers its services under the slogan of using technology that can monitor the activities of the "self-employed" person providing the service: whether they arrive on time, make a private phone call, check Facebook, or, if the service is preparing food, whether they sit down while doing so. - The website "Click work", which refers to 'crowd work', informs that the company screens, tests, trains and qualifies its employees. - The passenger transport company 'Lyft' also checks drivers' driving skills and background, inspects the vehicle, gives instructions on how to greet passengers ('big smile, fist clenched hand touch') regulates the number of drivers on the road at any given time, has a rating system and stipulates that it can terminate the employment relationship at any time with immediate effect and without giving any reason. Does The Uber Problem Exist? - To put it briefly, yes, it exists. Uber is trying to enforce the above mentioned construct that it is just an IT service provider and not a traditional taxi company. - The case of the Barcelona taxi drivers • - Case C-434/15 Asociación Professional Elite Taxi vs. Uber Systems Spain SL Uber vs Aslam (UK solution) • Who does it work for • Working hours from the moment the app is switched on until it is switched off Scope Of The Directive - Improving transparency, strengthening cross-border character. - This Directive lays down minimum rights applicable to any person carrying out platform work in the Union who has, or who may have on the basis of an assessment of the facts, an employment contract or employment relationship as defined below, on the basis of the laws, collective agreements or practices in force in the Member States, taking into account the case law of the Court of Justice. - This Directive applies to digital labor platforms organizing platform work performed in the Union, irrespective of their place of establishment and irrespective of the law otherwise applicable. Digital Labor Platform - 'Digital labor platform' means any natural or legal person providing a commercial service which meets all of the following requirements: • (a) it is provided, at least in part, at a distance through electronic means, such as a website or a mobile application; • (b) it is provided at the request of a recipient of the service; • (c) it involves, as a necessary and essential component, the organization of work performed by individuals, irrespective of whether that work is performed online or in a certain location;