Fair Work for Platform Workers: Lessons from the EU Directive and Beyond

Abstract The adoption of an EU Directive on Platform Work in March 2024 signals a crucial acknowledgement of the need for legal regulation of a burgeoning form of work which defies traditional conceptions of the employment relationship. In the past decade, platform work has been one of the fastest growing forms of work globally, and Europe has been no exception. It is estimated that, as of 2022, there are over 28 million people performing platform work in the European Union alone, with the number likely to rise to 43 million by 2025. Although it promises flexibility, autonomy and lower barriers to entry compared to more traditional forms of work, platform work has been shown to foster precarity and insecurity for many. Platform work combines the challenges of casual work, which have already strained the boundaries of labour law, with those of algorithmic management, in which managerial power is increasingly mediated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The EU Platform Work Directive (PWD) is potentially a blueprint not just for regulating platform work, but for wider regulation of both casual work and algorithmic management systems. This paper analyses the PWD from the perspective of our extensive on-the-ground research as part of the Fairwork project and uses this experience to suggest ways forward for the proposed ILO Convention. The project works along three axes: to understand the conditions of platform workers better so that we can shape appropriate decent work standards; to achieve change through annual ranking of platforms based on compliance with the Fairwork principles; and to use this evidence to craft legal standards and explore avenues to achieve their formal adoption. The paper begins discussing who should be the subject of legal protection. The paper then turns to the substantive rights which have been formulated and tested by the Fairwork project. The paper concludes with recommendations for a future proposal for an ILO Convention on Platform Work.