The collective rights dimension of the Platform Work Directive: Assessing regulatory effectiveness in the digital labour context

Abstract

This article examines the collective labour rights dimension of the EU Platform Work Directive (PWD), drawing on a normative framework centred on personal scope, material scope, and enforcement. The analysis shows that while the Directive represents a milestone in regulating employment status and algorithmic management, its ability to rebalance bargaining power remains uncertain. The PWD makes progress by extending key rights related to automated monitoring and decision-making systems to all ‘persons performing platform work,’ including the self-employed. However, consultation rights remain limited to employees, leaving self-employed workers with more limited prerogatives. The Directive also falls short in addressing subcontracting practices that separate platforms’ economic power from legal accountability, thereby weakening meaningful collective engagement. In addition, although pioneering rights concerning algorithmic management and data use are introduced, their implications for core working conditions such as wages and working time are largely overlooked. By contrast, the enforcement dimension emerges as comparatively stronger, granting workers’ representatives a more active role. The article concludes by outlining policy options - including stricter rules on subcontracting, a directive on algorithmic management at work, and greater attention to labour market power - to reinforce collective labour rights in a digitalised economy.