Decent crowdwork – the fight for labour law in the digital age

Crowdwork – trends towards a hyper-mobile labour market

Digitalisation and the associated transition to Industry 4.0, which includes services, are global matters that need a globally integrated approach. The current division of labour between typically low-cost, manual and/or assembly line regions and more high-end, high-cost regions will disappear. Industry 4.0 will create a new global division of labour as digitalisation compresses time and space and introduces whole new requirements for simultaneous local and global presence. Previously conducted analyses of the future world of work point to a hyper-mobile labour market, where workers shift between various forms of employment and will at times have multiple workplaces simultaneously (De Stefano, 2016: 6–9). The first signs of a hyper-mobile labour market are reflected in the recent emergence of ‘new forms of work’ organised via online platforms. Currently, there is no single definition of ‘crowdwork’. However, it can be broadly defined as various forms of work managed via online platforms: paid or unpaid work, a sole or additional source of income or work carried out online or offline. In addition, crowdworkers have different employment statuses, leaving them competing on unequal terms (Huws et al., 2016: 2).

Even though the so-called collaborative economy has opened a whole new world of work full of potential, we need to ensure that the online platform economy does not create a parallel labour market with poorer social and fundamental rights leading to a hollowing out of Europe’s social model. UNI Europa is thus calling for quality work in the digital age, with workers receiving fair and decent wages and working conditions. To guarantee quality work in all areas of the economy, it is important to create a level playing field between on- and offline businesses and workers (UNI Europa, forthcoming). Striving to ensure the effective enforcement of existing employment rights for crowdworkers, UNI Europa is fighting to raise standards in the new online economy to match those existing in the offline economy. Importantly, this will include the right to equal treatment as well as ‘additional protections to combat the growth of unfair terms and practices associated with these working arrangements’ (Lynch, 2016). UNI Europa’s policy recommendations are outlined in the rest of this article.

Quality work for the online workforce – the necessity to provide a level playing field

The Communication from the Commission on ‘Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market – Opportunities and Challenges for Europe’ is inadequate with regard to the enforcement and effective protection of online workers (European Commission, 2016: 3). In response, UNI Europa is calling for a comprehensive legal framework in the form of an EU Directive covering the following aspects:

1) Platform workers to be defined as having the status of a ‘worker’

This classification is necessary to ensure the presumption of an employment relationship. Furthermore, the relation of subordination, i.e. a platform’s function as either an ‘intermediary’ or an ‘employer’, is important. In general, platform workers must be informed about the employer and the terms and conditions under which they work. In addition, it must be guaranteed that so-called ‘crowdwork’, ‘gigs’ and ‘tasks’ are defined as ‘work’.

2) The guarantee of decent remuneration and fair working conditions

To ensure ‘decent remuneration’, it must be prohibited to offer work at lower rates than the official minimum wage in the respective Member States in which the worker carries out the work. Moreover, ‘unacceptable and unlawful practices such as charging workers a percentage of their wage, payments in kind or making deductions from wages as punishments’ must not be tolerated (Lynch and Röthig, 2016). In addition to aspects such as adequate working time, health and safety standards or the protection of personal data and intellectual property rights, fair working conditions must include objective and portable rating systems between platforms and Member States.

3) A legal obligation for platforms to report to national monitoring institutions

Given the fact that ‘the EU currently represents (…) 4% of the total market capitalisation of the largest online platforms’ (European Commission, 2016: 3), most of which are neither officially categorised nor objectively rated ² , it is important to establish legal reporting duties to ensure that these platforms pay the relevant taxes and social security contributions in their respective Member States. To guarantee an accountable and transparent playing field, it must be confirmed that the ‘place of work’ is where the worker carries out the work and that labour inspectorates have the right to investigate and intervene in this process.

UNI Europa believes that these three requirements are key to creating a strong platform economy that supplements the offline economy and contributes to a European society built on strong social rights. However, the platform economy poses one major challenge to society in general and to the workforce in particular: the isolation of its citizens from one another.

A major challenge – to organise platform workers

The move towards an online workforce renders citizens isolated from one another, leading to a decline of social cohesion in many countries. As a consequence, societies transform into models characterised by lack of trust, disruption and potentially a large portion of citizens excluded from the digital society. For instance, as businesses increasingly move into platform activities, former colleagues risk becoming competitors on the platforms. The aggregated effects of this individualisation are yet to be seen, but to ensure empowered, inclusive and cohesive societies, counter-individualising measures must be put in place.

The right of platform workers to organise through trade unions and to bargain collectively, including the self-employed, is a good starting point. Due to the trend towards placeless working cultures, social networks must be created and supported to enable platform workers to get in contact with one other and to organise themselves. However, this requires an adjustment to competition law in relation to these new forms of work, with special attention to be paid to cartel building (UNI Europa, forthcoming).

Conclusion

The Deliveroo strike has shown that workers who organise themselves and collectively bargain for decent and quality work in the online labour market are able to hold these new types of employment structures to account. This is a striking example that should serve as an incentive for all crowdworkers and trade unions to fight for workers’ rights. We have to be aware of the fact that the collaborative economy and the online platforms we know today are most likely only the beginning of a fundamental change transcending and compressing space and time. The predicted block chain revolution will even further disrupt and change the way our societies function, and the way users, consumers, business and workers interact and co-exist. Therefore, it is essential to take the first steps towards a common level playing field for the on- and offline labour market to protect the achievements of our working culture.