The world is going through many difficulties, this is no secret. This pandemic has turned the world as we know it upside down. The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the digital transformation and the expansion of platform business models in the internal market.
Some platforms are playing an important role in ensuring access to services in the midst of many measures being taken to try and contain a situation which has clearly gotten out of control. At the same time, the public health crisis has reinforced the precarious working conditions, under which many platform workers were already operating.
The European Commission reports “that the platform economy is a growing phenomenon, with around 11% of the EU workforce saying that they have already provided services through a platform.”
This is no small amount, and we need to ensure that we are prepared to receive and plan ahead to ensure that all platform workers are treated justly. We need to do away with the social injustices that many platform workers are experiencing. We need to look forward and realise that platform work creates new opportunities for workers, self-employed, customers and businesses. This includes additional jobs and income for people who might have more difficulties to access the traditional labour market and those who value the flexibility of platform work. Yet, it can also lead to new forms of precariousness, for example due to lack of transparency and predictability in working conditions, as well as insufficient social protection. Additional challenges related to platform work include its cross-border dimension, something we are already experiencing today and cannot continue to ignore.
Although we have so much going on around us with the pandemic becoming the absolute priority, we cannot turn a blind eye to everything else that is happening and changing in view of the pandemic itself. On the 24th of February, EU Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager initiated the first-stage consultation with European social partners on possible action addressing the challenges related to working conditions in platform work. She explained that “way beyond Covid, platform work is here to stay. So it is important to see how we secure a sustainable model for this new type of work.” She made it clear that we need to address challenges: such as that platform workers risk being left without an income and they are not always eligible for national support measures;The poor working conditions with long hour shifts and little or no social protection, in the case that they would fall ill; As well as having no access to training and skills development. The EU has begun a six week consultation process, it is addressing the problems and looking to see how we can secure a sustainable model for this new type of work.
The EU is doing its part, addressing the problem before it gets out of hand, many other EU countries are doing the same. Germany, Italy, Spain and France have all seen court decisions which recognise platform workers as employees.
Where does this leave us? What are we doing to guarantee that we are also ensuring that these employees’ working conditions, employment rights and health and safety are being addressed? We cannot continue to solely depend on financial aid from the EU! It’s only thanks to the Nationalist Party that we are in the EU, otherwise we would be completely alone during these very testing times! It goes without saying that the lack of vision is definitely not the way to ensure that we are prepared to tackle any economic challenges, let alone the platform economy. There is no planning at all by the government for the platform worker, the Government that should have everything under control, definitely does not and is clearly managing by crisis.
This is where the Nationalist Party is completely different, the Leader of the Opposition Dr Bernard Grech has a clear vison of where we need to go, to identify and invest in new niches, attract new investment, and ensure that we are prepared with both the needed resources and legal framework to support this investment which continues to grow.
Let us not delude ourselves, irrespective of all that is happening, and partly due to it, the platform economy is expanding. In her closing remarks, Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager explained that in a recent study, 35% to 55% of consumers say they intend to continue to ask for more home deliveries in the future. This is a clear indication of at least one thing: there is no going back to how things were. The platform economy is here to stay - new technologies, new sources of knowledge and new forms of work will shape the world in the years ahead. And for all of our work on the digital economy, these new opportunities must not come with different rights.
Online just as offline, all people should be protected and allowed to work safely and with dignity. We have a golden opportunity; we have the ability to start constructive discussions to see that we not only ensure the dignity, rights and best work practices for platform employees, but also ensure further investment into the platform industry.
The Nationalist Party knows our greatest and most valuable resource in this country continues to be our human resource. It is what we need to invest in and ensure that we continue to offer the very best to attract more investment of added value.
This is done by ensuring that the employment created is of the highest standards and that they are treated just and fair, so that we can guarantee that the quality of their lives will be improved. This is the vision of the Nationalist Party for employment, to create security for investment in better jobs which can provide families with quality work, which results in a better quality of life. We should not continue to procrastinate but start to tackle the challenges now.
Social partners and different platform employers need to be involved in a constructive discussion as to how we can be the leaders of this growing new economy. Our size, or imagination, and our employment legislation is already an excellent base for what we already should have started doing, holding a constructive discussion.
On a national level, we must ensure that social partners such as Trade Unions have access to platform workers by strengthening their collective rights and improving working conditions. There is also the more popular self-employed platform worker, which we need to ensure have, at the very least, the minimum protection such as accident insurance and greater regulation on the termination of employment on platforms.
We must be careful not to let our prejudices against online platforms get the better of us. Platform work is a way to address the very real needs for flexibility on both sides of labour transactions. Not every business out there can afford to hire a full-time, permanent worker for every task it needs to fulfil. Platforms can also provide opportunities for people who are excluded from labour markets, because full-time work relations are just not the right fit for them, so we need to help build platforms that will improve the quality of life for all.
Ivan Castillo is a PN Candidate & President of PN workers Branch SHPN