Work ahead: labour in the platform economy

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung – Competence Centre on the Future of Work and the FEPS in cooperation with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) organised this joint in-person event:

“Work ahead: labour in the platform economy”

The FES Competence Centre on the Future of Work is about to launch the results of an international research project Online Platforms and Platform Work that aims to capture the existing platform economy landscape in over 30 countries in Europe. The results will be accessible in the form of interactive maps, factsheets and a report.

The event was an opportunity to gather stakeholders around a discussion on the legislative process to improve the conditions of workers in digital labour platforms and the employment aspects of the AI Act. At the same time, it was an occasion to look ahead: the platform economy is a harbinger of changes that increasingly affect all workers; from stagnating wages and the fragmentation of labour to the increasing use digital tools for surveillance. What are elements of a progressive agenda to address these challenges?

After a keynote on the challenges for labour in the digital economy, and a brief presentation of the outcomes of the FES project on Online Platforms and Platform Work in Europe, we invited the audience to take part in one of three thematical roundtables on the ways platforms operate and treat their workers :

1. FEPS-Roundtable: Slave to the algorithm? Strategies to empower labour in the digital workplace.
2. ETUC-Roundtable: Employers without obligations? Let’s not give Uber (and others) an easy ride!
3. FES-Roundtable: Who are the platform workers? Role of migration and gender.

The next steps will be discussed in a concluding session with policy-makers, including Member of European Parliament Brando Benifei and FEPS Secretary General László Andor, based on the findings of the roundtables.