Germany adds to
recognition of platform workers
by Roman Kormann on 18th
February 2021 @RomanKormann
share ontwittershare onfacebookshare onlinkedin
The Federal Labour Court ruled late last year that a crowdworker was indeed
an employee, despite the platform’s contrary claim.
Roman Kormann
Digitally organised platform work can offer advantages for workers on
platforms, such as low-threshold access to work opportunities, mobility and
high flexibility. This is especially true of highly skilled work often
associated with business innovation or creative work in freelance marketplaces.
Companies can use platform-mediated work to provide access to knowledge and
thus promote innovation, accelerate processes and save money.
At the same time, however, new forms of digital outsourcing and platform
employment reinforce tendencies to precarisation, lead to distortions of
competition and contribute to a further shift in the balance of power, to
the detriment of workers.
Obligation avoided
The main problem is that most platform operators vehemently deny any employment
relationship with the people working for them. As a rule, they do not declare
themselves as employers, clients or even employment agencies via their general
terms and conditions.
Get our latest
articles straight to your inbox!
"Social
Europe publishes thought-provoking articles on the big political and economic
issues of our time analysed from a European viewpoint. Indispensable
reading!"
In all these cases, platform workers are managed as self-employed persons,
even if their economic independence is clearly limited. By refusing to be an
employer, operators of labour platforms not only avoid the obligation to pay
social-security contributions but also circumvent labour, social and (where
applicable) co-determination rights.
Yet for an increasing number of people, work organised via or on platforms
is not just a side activity but their main source of income. According to
recent studies, almost 6 per cent of the working
population in Germany earn a quarter to half of their income through platform
work.
Amid pandemic-related restrictions, online delivery services have
been able to realise record growth, accruing in Germany up to 500 per cent
more customers. It is perhaps unlikely that this steep rise will continue after
the crisis but the digitalisation of the world of work will not come to a
standstill. As the multi-billion valuation of commercial labour platforms
such as Uber—heavily dependent on venture capital—demonstrates, important
developments are anticipated in financial markets.
Recognised as employee
In December, the German Federal Labour Court ruled in the case of a crowdworker who,
with the help of the union IG Metall, had sued a platform to
recognise him as an employee. The plaintiff carried out so-called ‘micro-jobs’,
such as photographing product displays in gas stations and supermarkets,
feeding them through the platform and answering questions about product
advertising.
The platform set deadlines for these jobs. For completed assignments, the
crowdworker received experience points which enabled him to level up—as in a
video game—and in turn granted him access to more assignments. These
‘gamification’ measures are—especially in crowdworking—popular incentive
systems for platform operators.
The plaintiff used to work 15 to 20 hours a week for the platform but was
blocked from working there after disagreements with the operator. The case
ended up before the Federal Labour Court after the Munich Labour Court and the
Regional Labour Court had dismissed the claim.
In a ground-breaking decision, the federal court recognised the crowdworker
as an employee. This was on the merits of the individual case but the court’s
reasoning shows it will have a wider impact.
For the judges, the platform had created an incentive system which resulted
in a pattern of indirect control, in which the crowdworker was not free to
organise his activity according to place, time and content. Even if he was not
obliged to accept orders, the platform’s evaluation system, through its
‘gamification’ structure, significantly determined his access to orders and
thus had an impact on his hourly wage. In combination with the detailed task
descriptions and the fixed timeframe, the court found that a personal
dependency, and thus an employment relationship, had been created.
Precarious conditions
The ruling sheds light on the digital shadow labour market: the business
model of platform operators, which is based on the presumed self-employment of
employees, leads in many areas to precarious working conditions.
Many platform employees are integrated into the work organisation
created by platforms and are subject to digitally issued personal instructions.
The platforms issue instructions on the content, execution, time and, where
applicable, location of the activity. These (algorithmic) monitoring and
control options replace personal instructions in the traditional sense but
fulfil the same function. Good work on platforms requires sufficient
transparency about how the work is organised through algorithmic control,
ranking and reputation systems and pricing.
To counter precarity, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
has presented an important benchmark paper,
which should lead as soon as possible to a draft law—finally to put an end to
social dumping and distortions of competition in the digital market economy.
Platform workers who are economically dependent on their client, integrated
into the operational process and bound by instructions must be recognised as
employees. For this to be effective, all platform workers must be able to
clarify their employment status. To break through the asymmetry of information,
a shift in the burden of proof to the platform operators is needed: rather than
asking employees to prove their employment relationship, lawmakers should
oblige platforms to deliver proof to the contrary.
The collective rights of platform workers must therefore be strengthened.
Trade unions need a right of access, to be able to reach out to platform
workers and support them in winning better conditions. A collective right
of action for trade unions is also necessary, to enforce the associational
rights of these workers effectively.
Even if platform workers really are self-employed, they need minimum
protection, for example through statutory pension schemes and accident
insurance. The case discussed above also shows the importance of clear
regulation when it comes to the termination of employment on platforms.
European level
The European Union also has a key role to play. National regulation of
platform work ends at borders. Digital platforms which offer
location-independent work can, however, move to other, less regulated, member
states to avoid strict rules.
That is why the path towards good work in the digital world must also be
set at European level. Minimum EU standards for the rights of platform
employees would be a good first step.
share ontwittershare onfacebookshare onlinkedin
About Roman Kormann
Roman Kormann works for the National Executive Board
of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) in the Digital Worlds of Work and
Workplace Reporting department.
Çalışmanın geleceği bu mu?
Crowdworking
her geçen gün daha popüler hale geliyor. Bu modelin nasıl işlediği ve iş
dünyasını neden kökünden değiştirebileceği hakkında.
15.01.2018
Geleceğin ofisi böyle bir şey mi?
dpa
Almanya. Almanya’da, iş dünyasını tamamen değiştirebilecek bir
çalışma modeli yayılıyor: Crowdworking. Bu, müşterilerin ve hizmet
sunucularının internette buluştukları platform ekonomisinin bir parçası. Berlin
Bilim Merkezi Sosyoloğu Martin Krzywdzinski
gibi uzmanlar, bu eğilim hakkında şu değerlendirmeyi yapıyorlar: „Her ne kadar
crowdwork halen Almanya’da bir ek kazanç yolu ise de, bu yeni tip çalışma
biçiminin getireceği toplumsal içermeler ciddiye alınmak zorunda“.
Crowdworking
nedir?
İnternet bazlı platformlar üzerinden
firmalar, platformun tescilli elemanları; yani crowdworker tarafından
üstlenilebilecek işler teklif ediyorlar (Crowdsourcing). Bu işler, metin
üretme veya verilerin sınıflandırılması gibi mikro görevler olabileceği gibi;
örneğin programlama işi gibi talepleri daha yüksek olan makro görevler de
olabiliyor. Bu alanda başta Alman platformlarından biri, clickworker.de. Bu
firma, şu anda bir milyonu aşkın crowdworker çalıştırdığını
belirtiyor.
Crowdworking’in
avantajları ve dezavantajları neler?
Artık firmalar kadrolu elemanlara
ihtiyaç duymaksızın çözümlerini uygun fiyatla internet ağından temin ediyorlar.
Üstelik crowdworker’ler her yerde ve her zaman kendi istedikleri gibi
çalışabiliyorlar. Ne var ki, bu yolla geçimini sağlayabileceklerin sayısı
asgari düzeyde; hem de sosyal güvenlikten feragat ediyorlar.
Bundan
sonra ne olur?
Federal Çalışma ve Sosyal Güvenlik
Bakanlığı, crowdworking konusunu Kasım 2017’de bir Araştırma Raporu
kapsamında inceledi ve şu sonuca vardı: „Bazıları bunu bir niş olgusu olarak
değerlendirirken, bazıları da daha şimdiden iş piyasasında esaslı bir
dönüşüm potansiyeli görüyor“. Federal Eğitim ve Araştırma Bakanlığının Bilim Yılı 2018 programı
bu konuya eğiliyor; bilim yılı „Geleceğin İş Dünyaları“ başlığını taşıyor
No comments:
Post a Comment