Dear all,

We have had another success with regards to the EU Platform Worker Rights legislation. As you know, we have been battling hard to ensure that freelancing is protected in Europe and to this end have been reaching out to Ministers, ministries and their advisors across EU national capitals. On Friday national representatives voted against a proposal that would have made life worse for us freelancers. This is great news!

Our success is down to the fact that we are making our collective voice heard to decision-makers. It is really important that we keep up the pressure, and please do circulate the petition within your networks so that we can continue to increase the number of signatures. The link is: https://chng.it/S8DDRhBJyR

So what happens next?

There is potential for the Belgian Presidency of the EU to try and reach an agreement on the Platform Worker Rights legislation in late February/early March, but this is looking increasingly unlikely. As such, with European elections happening in June, then work on finding an agreement on how to legislate platform work would recommence in the autumn with a new European Parliament and new European Commissioner in charge.

Aside from these debates, the focus at the national level is growing on the future of work and how freelancing and platform work should be treated from a policy and legislative perspective. It will be vital that we are involved in these debates and are planning a roadshow of events in national capitals with politicians and opinion-formers to educate them on what freelancing is, the benefits for individuals and how this should be facilitated rather than blocked. Please get in contact and we can discuss how you can be involved.

In terms of what we want to see, this can be found here: https://www.freelance-movement.org/post/proposed-mandate-on-the-platform-work-directive

Thanks for all your support and we will continue to give freelancers a voice in Europe. We are highlighting that freelancers do not want to be employees: we want the freedom to choose when, where and how they work. There are 40 million of us across Europe and we will continue to ensure that our voice is heard.

Best wishes, Glen