The EU Commission is trying to get support for a political agreement on the rights of gig workers.

 

The EU Commission is trying to get support for a political agreement on the rights of gig workers.

BRUSSELS: According to a document seen by Reuters on Thursday, the European Commission is attempting to enlist the aid of EU nations in order to promote a politically weaker agreement on the rights of workers at Uber, Deliveroo, and other online businesses. output

The EU took this action in advance of a gathering of ambassadors from the 27 EU member states on Friday to vote on the interim agreement reached between EU lawmakers and current EU presidency holder Belgium last week. The EU had proposed the draft regulations in 2021.

According to those with intimate knowledge of the situation, Germany is expected to abstain from the vote, while France remains doubtful about the accord, which could be the biggest obstacle. Additionally, ambiguity about Spain's and Italy's positions could potentially destroy the agreement.

Should the legislation fail to pass, the online platform businesses and the estimated 40 million gig workers in Europe would be left vulnerable to a patchwork of regulations and legal ambiguity.

However, the provisional agreement is substantially weaker than the Commission's proposal since it does away with a set of criteria to evaluate whether an internet company is an employer, which was met with resistance from the companies and some governments.

Rather, in response to national court decisions on the matter, governments will define the employment requirements for online workers that can be contested by online businesses or authorities. This essentially keeps things as they are throughout Europe.

Companies will have the burden of proving that gig workers are not employees.

The Commission stated that it was up to the individual nations to determine how to implement the idea of an effective legal presumption of employment that was agreed upon last week at a meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday.

According to a document reviewed by Reuters, this and other components would "give member states a margin of manoeuvre to define the mechanism of the presumption."

In order to assist EU nations in implementing the new regulation, the paper also stated that the Commission plans to form a transposition group.