Access of Platform Workers to Collective Rights – the Fall of the Binary Divide?

Abstract

The paper addresses the issue of self-employed platform workers’ access to collective labour rights from the perspective of international law (ILO) and supranational European law (EU and Council of Europe). In this regard, the paper addresses the right to collective bargaining, the right to strike and the collective right to information and consultation. The main finding is that at the current stage, the relevant international and European legal framework is not providing access of self-employed platform workers to all examined collective labour rights. In light of the analysed legal developments the binary divide “has fallen” (for those self-employed platform workers who fulfil the 2022 Guidelines criteria) regarding access to collective bargaining. Therefore, as argued in the paper, also access to the right to strike should be ensured for the latter platform workers due to the purposeful interconnectedness and inseparability of both rights. Nonetheless, the binary divide is remaining “firm” regarding access to collective information and consultation rights. The latter remain accessible (including considering the Platform Work Directive proposal) only to platform workers with a subordinate “worker” status. However, as argued in the paper, the possibility to drop the binary divide (at least regarding certain matters) also in relation to collective information and consultation rights (in the context of platform work) should be seriously considered.