It is clear that the number of people working through digital platforms has increased significantly in recent years. In 2022, the European Council counted more than 28 million workers in this sector, a figure almost identical to the number of employees in the industrial sector, and estimates that 43 million will be reached by 2025. But after the data, this new model has opened important discussions by asking… Essential in the background: The Glovo delivery man who delivers dinner, or the woman you called through MyPoppins to clean your house, or the Cabify driver you turn to that day, are you in a hurry? Have fair working conditions?
A new study, prepared by researchers from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and the University of Oxford and in which Comisiones Obreras participated, analyzes the behavior of seven platforms in Spain. The finding indicates that the majority “is still far from proving, through sufficient documentary evidence, that it is moving towards fair conditions of work and employment.” The work is part of the Fairwork project, which evaluates these labor systems in 40 countries, according to the principles of pay, conditions, contracts, management and fair representation established by the International Labor Organization and reviewed by academics and labor market experts to adapt them to the Spanish context.
The investigation focuses on seven major platforms. Only two pass the test that analyzes minimum fair labor standards. They are bike messaging cooperative La Pájara, which received eight points out of 10, but is no longer operating, and food delivery platform Just Eat, which received seven points. Cabify, Task Rabbit, and Uber meet only two of the specified criteria, and Glovo and MyPoppins remain at zero.
The following graph shows the score obtained by each platform regarding each criterion. Yellow boxes indicate that the company meets the requirements to obtain that point, but since it has not achieved the relevant previous point, the Fairwork Regulations prevent it from obtaining it.
In Spain there is no single rule regulating work on platforms. In 2021, the Rider Law came to bring order to the way thousands of people carry out their activities. “Our evaluation is positive, because it allowed the regularization of many false freelancers and the recognition of a series of rights,” says Alberto Risco, one of the project coordinators and professor of sociology at UCM. However, it is “not enough”, by excluding people who work hard and are not dedicated to delivery.
According to labor inspection data, in 2023, 3,212 procedures were carried out and 18,479 procedures were disclosed, amounting to 91.8 million euros and 47.5 million euros in liquidation procedures. In total, there were approximately 30,000 new registrations.
In this sector specifically, the application of the rider law sets the standard for labor rights. La Pájara and Just Eat are the two platforms with the best scores. While Glovo, which does not recognize the regulations and implemented them, remained with the counter at zero. “Those who adhere to the regulations conclude an employment contract and are allowed to have better working conditions. Their salary does not depend on the number of births, it is higher than the minimum wage among professions, and they are obliged to guarantee job security,” he explains. Arturo Lahira Sanchez, who also coordinated the research and is professor of ergonomics and sociology of work at UCM.
To calculate the fair wage, the researchers took as a reference the minimum hourly wage among specialties, which is approximately 8.3 euros. As the report notes, La Pájara, “despite receiving very similar wages,” was unable to prove that it had reached that level. However, “on both platforms, workers receive fewer working hours than they would like and therefore do not receive sufficient monthly income.” In addition, the report also analyzes the decent living wage that, according to its criteria, would allow a family to live in dignity and which they estimate to be between 9.7 and 9.9 euros. No one reaches it.
The researchers focused on three lines to obtain the information needed for this analysis. On the one hand, interview people who work on each platform. On the other hand, through documentation, bibliography, and judicial rulings. Finally, in cooperation with those companies that have agreed to participate. “Only Just Eat, Glovo and La Pájara agreed. “We interviewed them, they provided us with data, they made claims about things they didn’t agree on, we discussed them and, in some cases, they provided further evidence, and in others, we reconfirmed our statements.” Analysis. ” “When platforms show 0 points, we don’t know if they are in compliance or not, but they have not been able to prove it or have not provided us with information,” notes Risko, who explains. “In these cases, an attempt is made to compare them using different sources.
Different interpretations
These contradictions are evident in several points, but salaries are considered one of the basic pillars. “The data Glovo gave us was very different from what workers told us, because the company doesn’t consider waiting time to be working time,” Risko says. The same thing happens with other ride-hailing platforms, such as Cabify and Uber. “Legislation requires that contracts be work-related, but the pay is so low that drivers, in order to exceed the minimum wage, have to resort to working hours of more than 50 or 60 hours a week,” says Lahira Sanchez.
In Spain, this sector is subject to different legislation than the Passenger Code. These companies cannot provide services directly, but must hire companies that have vocational training center licenses, which in turn employ the workers. This situation means that in most departments, Uber and Capify cannot guarantee or prove that employees working under their brand are paid fairly, have a clear contract without abusive terms, and do not have a proper procedure for decision-making and team management. The researchers were able to prove that they provide safe working conditions – although they could not award that point because they did not achieve the risk prevention point – and that they guarantee freedom of association and collective bargaining.
“In this sector (passenger transport) the key is strong collective bargaining and a business culture that gives greater value to the work of those who work in these companies, as long as Spain has the capacity to operate,” says Lahira Sánchez, who regrets it. The unemployment rate is twice the European rate, so it is natural that people do not demand their rights.”
“We find companies, despite the existence of a law, that resist its implementation, challenge the state and abide by the rules, stretch the judicial system and exploit its time.”
The Glovo case is particularly bloody. The company adjusted its freelance model in 2021, to try to avoid the rider law, which came into effect that year. Previously, the Supreme Court had already decided that the “passengers” were workers and that the company was “no mere intermediary.” In 2022, the Labor Inspectorate imposed a fine of €79 million for continued false self-employment, even though it was in the period before the rule came into force. In January, the Inspectorate applied the first sanction after discovering fraud in relation to 49 workers in Asturias, under its already renewed model, and last March, the Social Court No. 1 of Gijón declared the existence of an employment relationship for one worker who had been dismissed. The company appealed this ruling to the Supreme Court of Justice of Asturias.
“We find companies that, even though there is a law, resist implementing it and challenging the state and compliance with the rules, thus burdening the judicial system and taking advantage of its time,” says Risko. In this sense, the expert in the sociology of work calls for “a collective discussion about this matter.”
Applying the rider law to domestic workers
MyPoppins’ model is different from other platforms and its days may be numbered. This company considers itself a simple intermediary and delegates to its clients the responsibility of organizing the employment situation of people who go to their homes to perform cleaning services. The second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, announced in May that she would extend the rider law to include domestic workers and domestic help. “We will not admit that new technologies are an excuse to return to the nineteenth century,” he said at a conference on European funds organized by elDiario.es.
“In this case, the platform acts as an intermediary, but does not supervise the compliance of clients who conclude contracts with legislation,” explains Lahira Sanchez. In fact, the company itself offers accident insurance through its website. “If employees signed up, this insurance would not be necessary, because Social Security would cover them, and therefore, the company itself acknowledges the possibility,” says the report coordinator. This keeps this business model in the shadows of domestic workers, representing a “large pocket of instability and underground economy.” It is still estimated that one in three women allocated to this sector is not affiliated with Social Security.
The Spanish riders law, which the vice president now wants to expand to include domestic workers through platforms, is the basis of the European directive, which was taken as a model to specify that all workers in the platform economy, not just “riders,” should be considered employees. “This means that It can be applied to everyone, which was the initial intention of the Spanish law, although the directive sees that each state has the possibility to define the conditions that each worker must meet in order to be considered an employee, which would allow very “There are years to see: different realities depending on each country.”
Within the framework of this European Directive, according to the Ministry of Employment, “progress will continue with the aim of protecting care workers, especially precarious, feminized and traditionally underserved workers, even though our state and welfare depend on it.”
