Prime Minister's Office of Spain

03/25/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 03/26/2021 01:32

Spain and Italy agree to boost progress on rights of digital platform workers in the European Union

These relations were recently stepped up on the occasion of the Spain-Italy Summit, held in Palma de Mallorca on 25 November 2020.

The two ministers identified work on digital platforms as a challenge of the utmost importance for the two countries and one which applies to the whole of the European Union. This area of interest and action for the EU institutions was seen in the recent open consultation by the European Commission on working conditions and social protection for people that work on digital platforms.

In this regard, the Minister for Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, recalled that in recent years 11% of European Union have worked for digital platforms and that the number of these platforms has grown five-fold at a global level.

The example of Spain

Yolanda Díaz recalled the importance of the pioneering agreement reached in Spain, within the framework of social dialogue, for the labour protection of people who provide distribution services for digital platforms, a regulation that forms part of Spain's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, which has now been forwarded to the European Commission.

Accordingly, delivery workers of digital platforms will enjoy all the labour rights and social protection of salaried workers. Yolanda Díaz recalled that this new regulation 'will improve the lives of many people - essential workers - who have been on the front line during the pandemic and who have given their lives for us all'.

The minister also stressed the importance of the rights to information that workers' representatives will henceforth have on the algorithms that affect labour relations.

Yolanda Díaz advocated working together with Italy, and signing up other European countries that support European legislation regulating the work performed through digital platforms. This is a field, underlined the minister, that the European Union is also working on with a view to presenting a legislative proposal in the final quarter of the year. The aim is to ensure a fair balance between the economy of digital platforms and the protection of the labour and social rights of workers.

European minimum wage

For Spain, the draft EU Directive on a European minimum wage framework will represent an example of Europe's sound commitment to transforming the guiding principles of the European Social Pillar into a reality and will become a tool for achieving 'increasing social convergence and guaranteeing genuine equal opportunities for citizens', explained Yolanda Díaz, who also recalled that it will allow special attention to be paid to more vulnerable groups and reduce the gender gap.

'This is a pioneering initiative - almost certainly the most important one introduced by the European Commission in recent years - which once again emphasises to European citizens the sense and purpose of the European construction project', underlined the Minister for Work and Social Economy.

Social Economy

The Ministers for Work of Spain and Labour of Italy addressed the importance of the social economy for Europe's recovery from the economic impact of the pandemic, under the values of equality, solidarity, justice and inclusion as fundamental pillars.

Yolanda Díaz indicated that the Government of Spain considers the priority defence of the social economy 'as a fundamental pillar of European construction and that we will intensely participate in the implementation of the European Action Plan for the Social Economy announced by the European Commission for the end of the year, which must be ambitious and transforming in its approaches, in its design and clearly in its financing'.

G-20 meeting

The Minister for Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, and the Italian Minister for Labour and Social Policies, Andrea Orlando, agreed on the importance of the meeting that will be held of the work ministers of the G-20 in June, under the Italian Presidency of the forum, at which important debates will be held on remote working and digital platforms, the regulation of which Spain has been a pioneer in.

Non official translation