Counter-app (4/4): The Platform Work Directive

The Counter-app series explores how app-based workers can counter the power of their algorithmic bosses. Each episode is based on cutting-edge research by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on platform work and how workers are resisting digitised exploitation.

In the final episode of this mini-series, journalist and researcher Ben Wray takes a deep-dive into the EU's recent Platform Work Directive, which Member States must transpose into their national legal regimes by December 2026.

The episode is based on 'The Platform Work Directive: Trade union guide to transposition', the fourth and final report of the ETUC's Fair Platforms project, a series of manuals on work in the platform economy. 

Interested in hearing other 'voices on the world of work'? Take a look back at previous seasons of etui.podcast.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Martin Willems, Daniel Cruz and Silvia Rainone for their contributions to this episode. 

Credits 

GeenStijl (2023). 'Uber Files: "Ruthless greed and state failure", testifies whistleblower Mark MacGann'. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLjBzIgqVvk 

Timestamps

00:00 to 01:32: Introduction 

1:33 to 04:52: Part 1 - The legal presumption of employment 

04:53 to 08:46: Part 2 - Procedural laws 

08:47 to 12:19: Part 3 - Intermediaries 

12:20 to 14:47: Part 4 - Algorithmic management 

14:48 to 20:24: Part 5 - Enforcement 2

0:25 to 20:54: Outro