In February 2021, the European Union’s flagship digital platform work directive failed to pass its final hurdle due to vetoes and abstentions from Germany, Greece, France, and Estonia. This was a major blow for the 30 million gig economy workers driving and delivering for companies like Uber and Just Eat who were hoping for greater protection and rights under the directive. The decision was described as incomprehensible by a progressive member of the European Parliament, marking the latest twist in the controversial proposal’s trajectory shaped by court rulings, the pandemic, and the EU’s lobby industry.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, digital platform companies saw their revenues soar while their workers, who risked their health to make deliveries, remained contractors with minimal employment rights. These businesses maintained that their workers were self-employed, despite public appreciation for low-paid frontline workers and legal defeats for digital platform companies regarding workers’ rights.
A significant ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court in September 2020 determined that food delivery company Glovo was an employer rather than a mere intermediary between riders and restaurants. This was followed by a 2021 decision by the U.K. Supreme Court that Uber drivers should be considered salaried workers due to their subordination and dependency on the company. Similarly, a Dutch court also classified Uber drivers as employees later in the same year. These rulings were seen as a rejection of a false new paradigm for modern work that does not adhere to traditional employment rules, according to James Farrar of the nonprofit worker rights organization Workers Info Exchange, which supported the Uber drivers’ case in the U.K.
