Activities of Tania GONZÁLEZ PEÑAS related to 2017/2003(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
European agenda for the collaborative economy - Online platforms and the Digital Single Market (debate) ES
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on a European agenda for the collaborative economy
Amendments (31)
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the Commission communication entitled ‘A European Agenda for the collaborative economy’ stresses the increasing significance of the platform economy and its impact on economic and employment policies and recognises the need for regulation by the Member States;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the term ‘collaborative economy’ covers individual or social initiatives that seek to share or collaborate on a non-profit basis, and it needs to be differentiated from the profit-making digital economy or online platforms;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas the collaborative economy covers such diverse models as crowdfunding, the exchange of goods, timebanking, self-consumption groups and the shared use of goods, among other things, and consequently it does not always operate in a digital environment but also operates in community-based contexts, frequently on a non-profit basis, it is not only practised on a global scale but also on a local one, and it is not exclusively restricted to the economic area but places the emphasis on social, environmental and accessibility aspects;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas the platform economy is based on new technologies and is developing at a faster pace than tax and employment regulation; whereas there is an urgent need for regulation governing these platforms;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Ad. whereas the importance of ensuring sufficient capacities to provide adequate social protection at Member State level for people in all forms of employment, standard and non-standard employment relationships as well as self- employment was highlighted in the report on the European Pillar of Social Rights;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Recital A e (new)
Recital A e (new)
Ae. whereas many of the new forms of employment that digitalisation and in particular digital platforms are creating are operating outside the contractual context (in employment and administrative terms), i.e. in the context of undeclared work;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Recital A f (new)
Recital A f (new)
Af. whereas there are no official statistics on the volume of employment in the platform economy, but it is estimated that it comprises 100 000 workers, which represents 0.05% of all EU employees at the end of 2015;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses the need for a clear distinction between ‘professional’ and ‘non-professional’the collaborative economy in the stricter sense and the market economy conducted through online platforms and to recognise activities in the platform economy that are properly categorised as ‘work’;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Recognises that the collaborative economy can be used for social purposes and stresses the need for a clear distinction between the various types of platform; calls on the Commission and Member States to take action to combat the digital divide, guarantee access for everyone without discrimination and protect non-profit platforms;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Stresses that the concentration of user-generated data in the hands of few private intermediation platforms has adverse effects on user privacy and market competition; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take appropriate measures to avoid the creation of dominant market positions in the digital market and to ensure an appropriate protection of privacy and personal information, so that the collection of user-generated data is only done by informed and explicit consent and never by default;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Stresses that the lack of clarity surrounding the existence of an employment relationship in profit-making platforms leaves workers without protection; deplores the fact that low-cost services are being offered to consumers at the expense of precarious conditions and unfair competition in certain sectors, often in sectors that are of strategic importance for the economy of some Member States;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Calls on the Commission and Member States to guarantee that the developing online platform economy in the Union is socially and environmentally sustainable, respects labour rights and complies with minimum guarantees regarding platform quality;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Stresses that the existence of legal loopholes and grey areas may open the way to breaches of the social and labour rights of workers carrying out activities for these platforms; calls on the Commission to urge Member States to regulate aspects such as the minimum wage, working time, collective agreement cover, the right to social security, health and safety at work and maternity and paternity leave;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. States that all workers in the platform economy are either employed or self-employed based on the primacy of facts; recalls in this context that the Court of Justice has defined the concept of ‘worker’ on the basis of an employment relationship characterised by certain criteria such as subordination, remuneration and the nature of workgrets that the profit-making platform economy is contributing to the spread of social dumping and precarious employment with various forms of atypical work, the proliferation of bogus self-employment and crowdworking; recalls in this context that the Court of Justice has defined the concept of ‘worker’ on the basis of an employment relationship characterised by certain criteria such as subordination, remuneration and the nature of work, and ILO Recommendation No 198 concerning the employment relationship establishes specific indicators recognising that the conditions for determining the existence of an employment relationship include a situation of subordination or dependence;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that, in the context of the collaborative economy, issues related to consumer protection, liability allocation, taxation, insurance schemes, social protection of workers (whether they are employed or self-employed) and data protection are the most urgent ones, and expects a regulatory intervention in that regard; emphasises that a regulatory framework should create a level playing field, foster innovations and contribute to the overall development and fulfilment of the EU transport policy goals, such as transport decarbonisation, territorial cohesion, affordability, accessibility and safety;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for a framework directive on decent working conditions in the platform economyeconomy of platforms based on transparency and access to information in order to guarantee the legal situation of platform workers and to ensure that all platform workers have the same social and employment rights and the same social, health and safety protection and access to lifelong learning as workers in the traditional economy and to ensure non-discrimination and gender equality; stresses that workers on these platforms should be covered by collective bargaining agreements; stresses the need to involve trade unions and other social stakeholders in drawing up this directive;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Urges the Member States to take the necessary steps to punish, by means of labour inspections tailored to suit these new forms of work, the use of undeclared recruitment practices and breaches of workplace health and safety standards;
Amendment 73 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Calls on the Commission to undertake to develop and enshrine in EU law appropriate definitions of the terms ‘worker’, ‘service provider’, ‘intermediary’ and ‘user’ so as to combat loopholes which allow for abuse; calls on the Commission and the Member States to open a broad social dialogue on new forms of employment and to set up a forum for negotiation in which to agree on amendments to EU legislation to redefine the status of worker and entrepreneur in the various branches of the new digital economy; takes the view that this forum should also establish models for labour relations, including administrative aspects thereof, determine the role that should be played by platforms, by ascertaining, for instance, who should apply for and pay social security contributions and future pensions, as well as working time arrangements, rest periods, occupational risk prevention guarantees, gender equality and curtail the rise of undeclared work;
Amendment 76 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines the need to ensure an adequate social security and tax regime for self-employed workers, who are key players in the digital labour market; the platforms shall be responsible for compliance, and not only the workers, who often operate without any formal labour relationship with or administrative links to the platforms; calls on the Member States to provide sufficient resources to enable the labour inspections required to monitor this new type of activity; stresses that freedom of association and collective action, including collective bargaining, are fundamental rights which must apply to all workers; calls on the Commission to devise, with the involvement of the social partners, an appropriate framework for monitoring and follow-up of the new parameters of the collaborative economy;
Amendment 83 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Recalls the potential of collaborative economy models to improve the efficiency of the transport system and reduce undesired externalities of traffic such as congestion and emissions; emphasises the need to fully integrate collaborative transport services into the conventional transport system and, while respecting the national subsidiarity principle, to avoid administrative systems or legislative measures which might lead to exclusion of fair collaborative transport services from transport planning and operations, with a view to enabling the creation of smooth complete travel chains and the provision of new forms of sustainable mobility;
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Deplores the worsening economic situation and the erosion of labour rights which have forced many jobseekers to work inadvertently for platforms in conditions of precariousness and a lack of protection and job security, factors which affect women, migrants and people with disabilities disproportionately;
Amendment 95 #
5. Calls for more reliable data on jobs and, working conditions and aspects such as social and environmental consequences in the platform economy and for the adjustment of related policies to create a level playing field between the platform and traditional economies;
Amendment 97 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Stresses that the concentration of data generated by users in the hands of a small number of private intermediation platforms undermines the privacy of users and competition in the market; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take the appropriate measures to stop any operator from assuming a dominant position in the digital market and ensure adequate safeguards for the privacy and personal information of users and workers, in such a way as to guarantee that data are only ever collected with explicit and informed consent and never by default;
Amendment 107 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Urges the need to clearly distinguish between legitimate ride-sharing and the provision of commercial transporting services (i.e. ‘non- professional’ vs ‘professional’ service provision) in EU terminology taking into account that equivalent services provision must be subject to equivalent regulatory standards, and urges the Commission to come up with proposals to adapt Union legislation accordingly; considers the monetary threshold to be one advisable way to make this distinction;
Amendment 119 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls for EU standards on transparency and, disclosure and privacy obligations for platform operators in order to monitor tax payments, social security contributions and practices regarding the rating of work on platforms; calls on the Member States to ensure that all for-profit online platforms comply with the same obligations as their ‘traditional’ competitors and that tax is collected from professional online platforms;
Amendment 123 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Member States to establish measures to reduce the risk and possibility of the occurrence of grey economy activities and tax avoidance in accordance with collaborative economy services, and invites the Commission to facilitate an exchange of best practises between tax authorities and stakeholders with a view to developing appropriate solutions for payments of taxes in the sharing economy; recalls that taxes and social protection obligations must be paid in the place where the services are performed.
Amendment 128 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Recommends assessing quality standards and imposing mandatory accreditation and licensing for activities carried out by online platforms, just as in the traditional economy;
Amendment 135 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Believes it necessary to take action to enable Member States’ governments to impose limits on the scope of action of these platforms, in the public interest;
Amendment 136 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Recalls that the report on the European Pillar of Social Rights called on the Member States to take legislative action to oblige digital platforms and other intermediaries to report all work undertaken through them to the competent authorities for the purpose of ensuring adequate contributions and protection through social and health insurance for all workers;
Amendment 145 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Underlines that constant accessibility represents a serious health and safety risk in the platform economy; advocates the establishment of a ‘recalls workers’ rights to rest and paid leave; recommends that Member States establish legislation governing the ‘right to log off,’ and ensuring that these workers, particularly women, have adequate resources to strike a balance between their personal, family and professional lives; is aware of how important it is for the social partners to conduct regular examinations of newly introduced technologies, processes and subcontracting agreements to ensure compliance with employment and social regulations and the right to log off’.;
Amendment 149 #
7a. Recalls that the flexibility, volatility and instability of these jobs passes the risks of the market on to workers and gives rise to greater social inequality and causes a higher incidence of psychological morbidity than in other jobs; stresses that the sector does not provide sufficient numbers of jobs for the unemployed, the most excluded groups in society and rural people, owing to barriers such as the digital divide or a lack of technological skills;