The Platform Work Directive passed its final hurdle with ease on Wednesday [24 April], when the European Parliament gave a big majority to the compromise text. A whopping 87% of MEPs who voted backed the Directive, paving the way for the regulation to become EU law, with two years to be transposed into national law in all 27 member-states. You can read our full report on the European Parliament vote here.It was not an easy road to get to this point, and if you still have doubts about just what advocates of platform workers' rights were up against, revelations published this week by Euractiv offers insight into the ferocious lobbying of the platforms' over this regulation.Euractiv's story revolves around the findings of Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), a research group focused on exposing the malicious effects of corporate lobbying. Via Freedom of Information requests (FOIs), CEO has uncovered the extent of Estonian multi-modal platform Bolt's lobbying of its own government over the Platform Work Directive. To say it was extensive would be a huge understatement.The most brazen example of Bolt's lobbying was an e-mail sent by the company's chief lobbyist for Western and Southern Europe, Aurélien Pozzana, on 26 October last year, just at the moment when the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU was trying to pull member-states towards a position closer to that of the European Parliament. Pozzana asked if the Estonian Government could sign a letter attached to the e-mail and "encourage other ‘allied’ member states to [do] so as well, to ask the Spanish Presidency to stick to the agreement adopted in June within the Council". The attached letter was drafted as if it had been written by the Estonian Government. “We, the ministers of labour of +++ [sic] EU member states, are writing to express reservations about the direction of negotiations on the proposal for Improving Working Conditions in Platform Work,” the draft letter stated.At the bottom of the draft letter was a list of countries that Bolt thought the Estonian Government could get on board with the letter, including Austria, Sweden, Greece, and France.The cherry on top is that this letter was sent to Sandra Särav, deputy secretary general for economy and innovation at the Estonian Ministry of Economics and Communications. Särav was previously an employee of Bolt and was reprimanded in April last year after failing to put in her declaration of financial interests that she owned stock options in the company. She still owns the stock options. Särav has been interviewed by Estonian media since the Euractiv revelations and was asked why she didn't register the correspondence with Bolt at the time, as she is supposed to. She said it was human error. "I or one of my colleagues should have sent this letter for registration and we did not," she said. "We certainly did not do it out of a desire to hide the letter."What is worse is that CEO did not receive a full response to its FOI requests from the Estonian Government, with omissions including not providing a full list of meetings between government officials and platforms' about the Directive. It is likely that there is more to be revealed that is being hidden. Th revelations appear to have stirred some debate within Estonia, with the Minister of Economic Affairs and IT Tiit Riisalo even having to justify why Särav is keeping her job. Opposition members of parliament have criticised the government for being too cosy to the platform lobby. Miriam Tõnismägi, head of Transparency International Estonia, has said that Bolt writing a letter as if it is the Estonian Government "crosses a line" and raises wider concerns about lobbying influence at EU level."What takes place in the Council, and European Parliament, especially as concerns lobbying and the revolving door effect, which is relevant also in the case of Bolt, it is a "black box" our eyes cannot really penetrate," she said. "Even if you try to look inside, you cannot get a clear picture of whose interests are behind certain activities. There is quite a lot of such machination there, and it is very difficult for ordinary citizens to divine whose interests are being represented."We can have a pretty good idea whose interests the Estonian Government has been defending at the Council. Estonia was one of four countries along with Germany, France and Greece which formed a blocking minority that almost defeated the compromise agreement in February, before a last-minute U-turn by Greece which was then followed by Estonia at a crunch meeting on 11 March. We don't know what e-mails Bolt was writing to the Estonian Government in February and March this year because the Estonian government has not released them to CEO.Of course, e-mails and official meetings with Ministers is only scratching the surface of platform lobbying influence. The real business of lobbying happens where FoIs can't reach. Pozzana's efforts in October last year were likely fruitful, since the Spanish Presidency's deal negotiated with the European Parliament - a much stronger proposal than the one ultimately passed - was rejected by the Council. Lobbyists are not being paid top dollar for nothing. However, we do know that Pozzana - who also chairs the Move EU lobby group in Brussels which combines Bolt, Uber and FreeNow - is not very happy about the final compromise agreement. "The consequence of the EU's adoption of the Platform Workers Directive is clear and direct: everyone loses," he said on 12 February, shortly after the compromise agreement was negotiated between the Council and the European Parliament.While Pozzana and his fellow platform lobbyists have certainly had their effect on this Directive, they have not been able to write the law. That in itself is a victory for the platform workers' movement in a European Union where corporate interests almost always win.Ben Wray, Gig Economy Project co-ordinator
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Gig Economy news round-up |
- GETIR SET TO ANNOUNCE EXIT FROM UK, NETHERLANDS AND GERMANY: Grocery delivery platform Getir is set to announce that it is ending its business in every country except Turkey. The new plan will see investors put in additional money to pay the costs of the company's exit from the UK, Netherlands, Germany and the US, which will include paying redundancy money to thousands of food delivery couriers and 'pickers' who will lose their jobs. In the UK alone 1,500 jobs are set to go, while in Germany another 1,800 workers face the axe across Getir and Gorillas, a Getir-owned platform. Discussions are also taking place about whether Getir will sell FreshDirect, a US based grocery company that it acquired earlier this year. Getir's retreat to its home market marks the end of its attempt to build a grocery delivery platform empire. When the company bought Gorillas at the end of 2022, it became the dominant player in grocery delivery in Europe, but as demand has fallen and interest rates risen, Getir, which was losing €100 million a month as of July last year, has pulled out of one market after another in an attempt to slash costs and maintain its position in five key markets, but to no avail. Getir, which was valued at $12 billion just over 2 years ago, is also likely to focus solely on food delivery in Turkey, with a report in Daily Sabah stating that its online shopping platform n11 could also be sold. Read more here.
- DELIVERY HERO ADMITS GLOVO MIGHT NOT SURVIVE: German multi-national Delivery Hero has admitted that one of its most important brands, Glovo, is facing potential collapse due to the legal problems it faces in its home country of Spain. The company made the statement in its 2023 annual financial report, in which its auditor, KPMG, also states that Glovo may not be able "to continue as a going concern". Glovo has refused to employ its riders in Spain despite the passing of the Rider Law in 2021, which establish a general legal presumption of employment in the food delivery sector. The Catalan-founded firm has racked up massive fines and back-dated social security payments for bogus self-employment as a result of this, which could amount to a whopping €420 million, Delivery Hero states in the report. Delivery Hero purchased Glovo on New Year's Eve 2021, and the company has signed a letter in which it has committed to continue financing Glovo until at least May 2025, but the company states in the report that this commitment is on a "limited basis, both in time and amount". The report also shows that Glovo's losses grew in 2023 to €648 million, €241 million more than in 2022. Glovo has managed to get 12 fines worth €67 million suspended by Spain's National Court on the basis that it is in a "extreme financial situation". The report also states that Glovo faces legal risks in Portugal, after a reform to the labour code last May established a presumption of employment in the platform economy in the Southern European country. Read more here.
- UBER EATS RIDERS TO STRIKE IN BRUSSELS: Uber Eats food delivery couriers will take strike action in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday next week [30 April to 1 May], demanding a pay increase and an end to 'robo-firings'. The strike is being supported by the Brussels Couriers Collective as well as the trade union CSC-United Freelancers and the youth section of the FGTB union. In a press release, the organisers of the strike said that there had been no pay increase since 2019, while at the same time inflation has soared. They want a pay rise of at least €2 per journey and €0.5 per kilometre travelled. The organisers highlighted a court case at the end of 2023 which found that Deliveroo riders are employees, not self-employed, but said that "until the public authorities enforce the law, the above demands can wait no longer." The strike would also be directing criticism towards the "laxity" of the Belgian Government, the organisers added, as a law came into force on 1 January 2023 for a legal presumption of employment in the platform economy "but in practice nothing has happened". The striking workers will go to restaurants to ask for their support and a protest will be held outside of Uber's Belgian office at 4.30pm on Tuesday.
- SECOND INTERNATIONAL PROTEST OF JUST EAT RIDERS AT AMSTERDAM HQ: In the second international protest at Just Eat's Amsterdam headquarters in the space of a month, food delivery couriers in France and the Netherlands have demonstrated their anger at the company's decision to axe its remaining employed riders in Paris. In January, Just Eat, Europe's largest food delivery platform, announced that it would end its 'Scoober' service, with 100 riders in the French capital set to be made redundant, despite signing an agreement with the Force Ouvrière (FO) union in December 2022 which stated there would be no more redundancies at the company. Just Eat announced the end of its in-house delivery service in areas outside of Paris in November of that year. The company is planning to move to an independent contractor model in France, as it has done in the UK. The FO union riders were joined by members of Dutch union FNV and German union NGG, who protested alongside their French colleagues in solidarity. The lawyers representing the riders have met with Just Eat's Amsterdam management because they say that those at the head of the company's French subsidiary do not have decision making power. The riders want the company to stick to the 2022 collective agreement. "Today a true international of platform workers has been set up," Phillipe Pradal, the workers' lawyer, tweeted from outside the Just Eat HQ. Just Eat began employing riders directly in 2020 and has backed the EU Platform Work Directive, but the company has said that it cannot compete with rivals like Uber Eats and Deliveroo, which operate an 'independent contractor' model, if there is no "level playing field".
- UBER's PORTUGUESE OFFICE RAIDED AS PART OF TAX PROBE: Uber's office in Lisbon has been raided, as part of a tax investigation. The Silicon Valley gig economy giant claimed that "Uber is not the targeted entity" of the raid and is fully cooperating with the probe. The Public Prosecutor's Office issued a statement saying they had investigated 65 offices related to delivery services for an unnamed company, which "benefited from the issuance of invoices that did not correspond to services actually provided". The suspected tax fraud could be worth up to €28 million, with another €7.5 million in unpaid social security contributions. Portugal reformed it's labour code on May Day 2023 to establish a legal presumption of employment in the platform economy with six criteria. Uber and other platforms have claimed they do not meet the criteria, but on 1 February, the first case that came to court found that an Uber Eats rider did meet the criteria and must be given an employment contact by the company. Read more here.
Have we missed something important? You can help keep us informed by sending information to GEP@BraveNewEurope.com. |
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- A hybrid event on employment practices in the Scottish food delivery sector will be held on 8 May at the Strathclyde University Business School, in Glasgow, 11-1pm GMT. Click here for full details and to register.
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