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More protection for delivery service drivers

2022-06-16T08:33:33.201Z


Food, care, shopping: everything can be conveniently ordered online. However, those who deliver it are often precariously employed, underpaid and poorly secured. The EU wants to tackle the problem now.


Enlarge image

A bicycle messenger from the delivery service Lieferando drives through the city center.

Photo: Jan Woitas / picture alliance / dpa / dpa central image

Online shopping is a huge market - and behind it, logically, there is also a huge job market.

Almost six percent of those in employment in Germany obtain at least a quarter of their income from so-called platform work.

They offer their services online or have jobs placed there.

Four out of five Germans now order online.

However, the companies that offer goods and services there often shy away from granting employee rights to those who work for them.

The EU social affairs ministers are currently negotiating cross-border protection rules for the millions of employees affected.

Before the meeting this Thursday in Luxembourg, Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) spoke out in favor of new European protection standards for digital platform work.

"Many providers are active across borders," he told the German Press Agency in Berlin.

Digitization should not be confused with exploitation, says Heil, referring to delivery or driving services.

That is why Europe-wide minimum standards are needed.

The EU Commission had introduced legislative proposals according to which online platform employees should be better protected in the future.

Millions of workers could therefore be classified as employees and entitled to a minimum wage and regular working hours.

Many platform workers are considered freelancers.

The "Fairwork" research project recently presented figures that show the working conditions for platform workers in Germany.

Conclusion: The gap between the providers is still huge.

»Although we see that individual platforms are making great efforts to improve their working conditions, we also see that there are large differences from platform to platform and sometimes from location to location;

in all areas,” said Oğuz Alyanak, one of the report's authors.

According to the report, some providers such as Wolt and Flink now have external inspectors who check working conditions, while others offer permanent employment (lieferando and Flink).

But there are also suppliers like gorillas,

Heil said: "Having lunch delivered quickly, renting a scooter via an app or choosing the cleaner on a website - all of this makes our lives easier and has long been part of everyday life for many people." In addition, the digital platforms offer low-threshold access to the labor market.

"But one thing is important to me: It must be clear whether I am an employee or a self-employed person." Heil said he was glad "that we are now talking about a specific draft directive."

This is an important step towards fair competition and good digitization in Europe.

more on the subject

Shortage of skilled workers: finally let the people with disabilities get involvedA comment by Andreas Monning

Topics such as adequate minimum wages and the chances of people with disabilities on the labor market are also on the agenda of the meeting, it said.

Heil said that fair working conditions and social protection standards are the common goal.

mh/dpa

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2022-06-16

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