EU agrees on a European 'riders' law' but Spain abstains from the vote

Labour minister Yolanda Díaz considers the regulation "insufficient" and says that it does not protect the rights of workers on digital platforms

Olatz Hernández

Tuesday, 13 June 2023, 11:24

EU labour ministers have agreed on a new law that regulates the working conditions of delivery workers who operate through online platforms, but Spain abstained from the vote.

The European Rider's law - agreed upon on Monday, 12 June, and which will now need to be negotiated with the European Commission and the European Parliament - establishes the basis for considering a digital platform worker as an employee, rather than an independent contractor, under certain circumstances. But Spain disagreed and considered the law to be "insufficient" and "unambitious".

On her arrival at the meeting of labour ministers in Luxembourg, Yolanda Díaz, who is also second deputy prime minister, had already said that she would not support the law.

"Our position is clear: a young person on a bicycle with a mobile phone app is not an entrepreneur and deserves all the protection of his or her labour rights,” she said.

She considered that the European regulation "does not offer sufficient guarantees of protection" to the workers of these platforms, nor does it represent progress in terms of labour rights.

Spain has signed a joint declaration together with Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia to achieve a directive "with the highest level of ambition".

These countries recognise that the regulation agreed on Monday contains certain improvements with respect to the one negotiated in December, such as the management of algorithms, the need for supervision, the right to information for workers and the transparency of the platforms, among others.

However, they pointed out that the presumption of an employment relationship between employees and companies is "less ambitious and effective" than that proposed by Brussels.

They considered that the directive, as it is currently drafted, "will only contribute to perpetuating existing imbalances" and to the precariousness of digital platform workers.

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