Gig work file set to become key campaign fight for the French left
The adoption of the platform work directive by EU countries in the next few days is highly uncertain, with Paris refusing to agree to the current text draft – and the French left is ready to put it at the heart of its agenda for June’s EU elections.
The French left, from the more radical La France Insoumise (LFI) side of the aisle to the social democrats, may not see eye to eye on a number of issues but there is one EU file they all agree is worth fighting for: the platform work directive, aimed at regulating the growing gig economy and giving employment rights to several million workers.
All left-wing movements in France “are broadly aligned when it comes to social issues at the EU level,” LFI MEP Leïla Chaibi, a shadow rapporteur for the directive who spearheaded the fight for an ambitious text at the European Parliament, told Euractiv, and gig work regulation is no exception.
The platform work directive, first introduced by the European Commission in December 2021, was hailed as the EU’s first attempt to regulate the gig economy.
Fast forward two years, and it has become one of the most contentious files in Brussels. It is highly uncertain if member states will adopt it, with four EU capitals that oppose it, first and foremost Paris, making up a sufficient blocking minority.
Is the platform work directive dead?
The EU’s Platform Workers Directive is on life-support and might be split in two after European governments voted down a provisional agreement found in December. “Better no deal than a bad deal,” sources told Euractiv.
No panacea
A meeting of EU ambassadors is due on Friday (8 March) “with a view to agreement” on the proposed legislation, the official agenda reads – but that is far from a done deal.
The text up for approval, adopted in early February by negotiators from the European Parliament, the presidency of the Council of the EU, and the European Commission, is already a watered-down version of the initial Commission proposal.
The French left is aware that a new, more ambitious text after the elections is unlikely as the European parliament is expected to shift to the right, so they are taking it upon themselves to bring the issue forward in mainstream political conversations, calling for a swift adoption of the proposed draft and its transposition into national legislations.
“The text as it stands is no panacea, but it’s something,” Chaibi said.
To her, the next fight will be at the national level, to ensure the presumption of employment is effectively implemented in the most robust way possible – and she is hoping to get popular support throughout.
The text creates a new legal presumption of employment, a mechanism through which self-employed workers can be reclassified as full-time employees if they meet a certain number of criteria which hint at a subordinate relationship with a digital platform.
The Commission estimates that 5.5 million EU platform workers out of 28 million in 2021 could be contractually misclassified.
But unlike the Commission’s original proposal, the latest draft does not put criteria into law but only requires that member states create a presumption of employment in their national legal systems.
This alone represents a complete U-turn for France, where national law in the gig economy provides for a ‘presumption of independence’, whereby self-employment holds until proven otherwise, and Paris is not willing to budge.
France is joined by Estonia and Greece, which say the text as it stands would amount to legal uncertainty and fail to harmonise practices across the bloc. Germany is also expected to abstain due to infighting in its three-party ruling coalition.
As the member state vote approaches, all eyes are on Tallinn, whose parliament should debate this file on Friday and agree a position.
Member states slam door shut on gig work directive
The Belgian Presidency failed to garner the necessary support from member states to agree a new platform work directive on Friday (16 February), effectively shelving the proposal, after more than two years of negotiations.
Pleasing Uber
With so much uncertainty in the air, the French left continues to campaign, all the while accusing the government of being influenced by Uber’s lobbying tactics – which the executive has steadily denied.
“Who’s blocking the platform work directive at the EU level? Emmanuel Macron, to please Uber,” socialist party lead candidate and social democrat MEP Raphaël Glucksmann said over the weekend.
The LFI also put Brahim Ben Ali, a former Uber driver turned active anti-platform unionist, a (non-eligible) place on the slate for the EU elections, hinting at the importance the radical left wants to give this file.
“If the file fails in Brussels, we’ll be talking about it left, right and centre on the campaign trail,” an LFI party advisor told Euractiv.
Should a vote by EU ambassadors fail on Friday, the directive will be brought up as a discussion point at a meeting of labour ministers on Monday (11 March), for one final stab at a potential agreement before it is too late, and campaigning begins.
Read more with Euractiv
