Gig Mess: Europe Battles Over Uber

European Union governments are divided over plans to reclassify millions of independent Uber drivers and Deliveroo couriers as employees.

It looks like a simple goal: to set a harmonized set of rules for determining whether gig workers are employees or independents throughout the 27-nation European Union. Instead, negotiations over the so-called Platform Work Directive have turned into a vicious fight, underlining deep differences within the continent.

Under the European Commission’s initial proposal, self-employed platform workers would be reclassified as full-time employees if two out of five criteria were met measuring the platform’s control over the work. Governments in the EU Council increased that threshold to three criteria out of seven, making it harder to trigger. In contrast, the European Parliament did away with criteria altogether, so that the slightest hint of platform would be considered sufficient for reclassification as a full-time employee.

A similar struggle rages in the US. California beat Europe in trying to make gig workers full-time employees, only to be overruled by popular vote in a referendum. Uber drivers in New York recently went on strike for higher wages. But so far, almost all US gig workers remain independent.

In Europe, the debate reflects deep ideological divisions. Left-wingers and labor unions worry about the precarious nature of one-time gigs. Both Belgium and Spain, holders of the rotating EU presidencies during the negotiations, have been pushing for strong worker protection and a more ambitious EU directive.

Spain’s socialist government has ordered platforms to treat all drivers and couriers as employees. Food delivery service Deliveroo pulled out of the country riders associations and reported that 8,000 Spaniards lost their jobs.

Belgium allows only full-time professional taxi drivers using expensive commercial vehicles to use mobile apps to collect riders. Many prices no longer can be fixed. Drivers cannot pick up customers at the airport to return to Brussels.

By contrast, France, the Nordics, and Central Eastern European countries are pushing for a flexible approach that would pose fewer requirements on platforms. France, in particular, sees gig work injecting much-needed flexibility into the continent’s rigid labor markets.

Under President Macron, France has rejected full-time status, instead proposing a new form of social dialogue that would improve working conditions and pay. “Go to a poor neighborhood and explain to the young people, who are Uber drivers, that it would be better for them to just do nothing or to deal in the streets,” Macron says.

Strong European rules could produce job losses. According to a Copenhagen Economist study sponsored by the gig industry, up to 250,000 current couriers couldn’t work in delivery if hours were predetermined by an employer. The remaining drivers actually would earn less per hour, predicts another study from Compass Lexicon consultants, also commissioned by a platform lobby group.

So far, a compromise has eluded negotiators. Late last year, the Spanish EU presidency announced a provisional deal. EU governments struck it down, but the Belgian EU Council presidency wants to use that agreement as the starting point for future discussion.

Paris balks. It wants a comprehensive rewrite and has assembled a coalition of countries demanding a liberal and flexible approach. Without a clear majority of the 27 EU member governments, negotiators are now back to the drawing board.

Negotiations are also divided over how much to centralize European-wide rules or allow national prerogatives. France says only courts can reclassify independents as workers. Belgium and hardliners want labor inspectors to be able to issue rulings. The French also want to kill a proposed clause that would require labor ministries to assist independents who want to be classified as full-timers. “An insufficient consideration of these [national] systems would represent a clear red line for France,” the French position paper says.

Belgium remains committed to getting a deal done before the European Parliament is dissolved ahead of the elections in June. This makes timing tight – and no clear outcome in sight.

The EU agreed on February 8 to a watered-down, weak new law regulating the employment status of ride-hailing and delivery gig workers, without managing to set continent-wide standards.

Theo Bourgery-Gonse is a Euractiv politics reporter.

Bandwidth is CEPA’s online journal dedicated to advancing transatlantic cooperation on tech policy. All opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position or views of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis.