Platform economy database
Database of initiatives and court cases in the EU
Eurofound’s platform economy database provides information on 281 initiatives and court cases that exist or have been implemented in relation to activities in the platform economy. The database was last updated in December 2022 and provides metadata for each entry, such as geographical scope, year, type of initiative, actors involved, sector and companies concerned. Initiatives include legal instruments such as legislative changes or court decisions, as well as voluntary interventions undertaken by different stakeholders to address issues around platform work.
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The database currently contains 281 entries and was last updated in December 2022.
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Italy
The Italian General Confederation of Labour (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro,CGIL) launched its New job identities (Nuove Identità di Lavoro, NIdiL) section in 1998 to ensure the representation and protection for atypical workers. Workers of the platform economy, including riders, are also members of NIdiL CGIL. The organisation is operational on both national and territorial level.
During the COVID-19 crisis, NIdiL launched several campaigns in protection of platform workers. For example, in Piedmont, it supported a strike by Amazon workers who denounced the inacceptable working conditions imposed by the company during the emergency. At national level, NIdiL launched the #dimenticatidaconte action, denouncing the fact that measures taken by the Italian government were largely inadequate for riders. It also promoted a court case against Just Eat which led to the recognition of the right to safety and health for platform workers and which established the applicability of the employment relationship regulation to them. NIdiL CGIL has also been engaged in getting closer to self-organised movements of riders and the union has kept a forward-looking cooperation with the other two most representative Italian trade union confederations in putting forward a proposal for the better protection of this category of workers towards the Italian government.
The platform economy is one of those moving targets, which, despite receiving increasing media and policy attention, has proven difficult to regulate. Given the heterogeneity of employment relationships, business models, types of platform work and cross-border issues, this is not surprising.
Technological change is accelerating as the capacity of electronic devices to digitally store, process and communicate information expands. Digitalisation is transforming the EU economy and labour markets: nearly one-third of EU workplaces are categorised as highly digitalised. What are the implications of the digital revolution for employment and work?
The rapid rise of the platform economy has led to a marked transformation of European labour markets, and existing regulatory frameworks and voluntary initiatives have yet to catch up. While platform work offers opportunities for workers and employers and potentially contributes to innovation, economic growth and competitiveness in the EU, it has been criticised from the beginning because of the poor employment and working conditions often experienced by workers.
While 2020 may come to be seen as the year platform work gathered pace and started to go mainstream – thanks in large part to COVID-19 containment measures sparking an increase in food and grocery delivery – 2021 could be the year that regulation of platform work is set in motion.
