Today, the European Parliament is set to confirm the historic agreement on the protection of over 30 million platform workers and the European social model. This is the last stretch on a rough journey to this new legislation, which started in 2016 in Prague, where the Socialists and Democrats first pledged to fight for the protection of all workers in the digital era.

The groundbreaking legislation is a result of the relentless efforts of the progressive family. The Socialists and Democrats led the negotiations on behalf of the European Parliament, and all this would not be possible without commissioner for jobs and social rights Nicolas Schmit who put forward a far-reaching legislative proposal.

Elisabetta Gualmini, S&D vice-president and European Parliament’s rapporteur on the new EU legislation on platform work, said: 

“Today, we are writing history. The EU is getting a new law on platform work, thanks to our unwavering commitment to social and labour rights. Our journey started eight years ago in Prague, where we first called to address the situation of platform workers.

“It has been a hard battle against the aggressive lobbying of platform giants, but in the end a qualified majority of EU member states also understood the importance of supporting the file – and the social Europe won.

“This is a big victory for our progressive family, for platform workers, for good employers, for the genuinely self-employed, for the European social model and economy. Great achievements like this are our best arguments for the upcoming elections.

“This law is about protecting the people who give us rides, bring us food and perform many other services for us every day. Many platforms hire them as bogus self-employed, depriving them of decent wages and labour rights. Now this will change.

“The new legislation will not only protect platform workers, but also preserve true self-employment, prevent unfair competition and introduce groundbreaking rules on algorithm management; ensuring that the machines cannot fire people or spy on them. All this will make Europe the pioneer in global labour law.”