France: labour minister to adopt ordinance by end of April to establish representation for platform workers

A taskforce appointed in January this year, to define the way social dialogue for self-employed workers on digital job platforms and representation thereof should be conducted, has submitted a draft turnkey ordinance to Elisabeth Borne, the French minister for labour. The draft was the subject of a broad consultation which, although not unanimous, was met with broad support according to on the the moderators Bruno Mettling, former human resources director at Orange. The aim is that the implementation of collective bargaining arrangements allows for the establishment of rights for such workers. This requires, first of all, the emergence of legitimate actors. To this end, a ballot is to be organised from the first quarter of 2022, via an electronic vote that will be supervised by a national authority for platforms. The workers will vote for organizations (not for individuals) which must have at least 6 months of existence. The organizations that receive at least 5% of the votes will be recognized as representative.  This representation will initially be organised at sector level (initially private cars with drivers and delivery, the idea being to eventually create a platforms sector) and should lead to social dialogue. Subsequently, employee representation and social dialogue at platform level will also be launched, according to arrangements that will be defined within a year by the sector-level social dialogue. By that point platforms will be free to organise direct dialogue with their self-employed workers, on information and consultation for example. Representation will be established at company level as well as sector level. The aim is also to develop collective bargaining and the bill will require negotiations on one topic (from a choice of seven) per electoral cycle (every two years). The government plans to adopt a first bill on the election by 24 April. A second text is expected after the end of the European Commission’s work on the bargaining rights of platform workers (see article n°12304). The government’s next task will be to deal with the social protection of these workers.