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Delivery driver in Berlin
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Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
According to the EU, this concerns more than 28.5 million people: delivery service and taxi drivers from large online platforms can hope for better working conditions in European Union countries.
The EU states spoke out in favor of new requirements in order to better prevent bogus self-employment, as the Belgian EU Council Presidency announced.
The European Parliament still has to approve the project.
A majority is likely.
Negotiators from the EU states and Parliament had actually already agreed on a compromise twice.
But the deals fell through again and further discussions were required.
Above all, it was difficult to find a majority within the EU states, which also failed because of the federal government.
Berlin abstained from the decision because there are different views on the project.
FDP representatives in particular spoke out against the law.
According to the dpa news agency, the deputy federal chairman Johannes Vogel recently described the proposed platform rules as “an attack on all self-employed people in Europe”.
Independence is a central and necessary part of a modern working world.
The Commission's initiative therefore does not go too far, but in the wrong direction.
“It cannot be the case that self-employed people should be turned into employees against their will,” said Vogel.
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) said on Monday: “If you are not able to compromise, you cannot help shape things.
I personally very much regret the voting behavior. It is important that digitalization in working life is not confused with exploitation.
The conditions under which delivery service employees work are considered harsh.
A year and a half ago, the “Fairwork” research project evaluated in a study that employees in numerous companies had problems being able to exercise their rights.
sol/dpa