Taxis4SmartMobility (T4SM) and the International Road Transport Union (IRU) warn the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU about the serious risks that the Commission’s proposal on improving working conditions for platform workers is posing for the taxi industry in a joint letter addressed to Johan Pehrson, the Swedish Minister for Employment.
We welcome the Commission’s proposal to fill the legal vacuum created by global digital platforms and to guarantee platform workers the working rights they are entitled to. However, the current text risks to have serious consequences for the concept of urban mobility as a whole, leaving already vulnerable consumers behind.
Therefore, we call on the Swedish Presidency to sharpen the definition of Digital Labour Platforms (DPLs) and consider following the same approach as the European Parliament, who agreed that taxi dispatch services should be treated differently from ride hailing digital labour platforms. Secondly, we also ask the Council of the EU to clarify the criteria establishing employment to make sure that the taxi sector does not fall under the scope of the directive.
