From Individual Rights to Collective Power? - Representation under the EU Platform Work Directive

Platform work has transformed how labour is organised, managed and contested. Digital platforms may present themselves as neutral intermediaries, yet they often control access to work, set prices, monitor performance and suspend accounts. Ratings, rankings and automated decisions can profoundly affect people’s livelihoods—frequently without transparency or effective collective representation.

The EU Platform Work Directive addresses some of these challenges. Public debate has focused mainly on employment status and algorithmic management. But the Directive also raises a broader and less explored question: can it strengthen the collective power of people performing platform work?

The Directive refers to representatives of persons performing platform work and grants collective actors rights relating to information, consultation, communication and complaints. It may therefore create space not only for trade unions and established workplace representatives, but also for worker associations, platform-specific collectives and newly elected representatives.

Yet many questions remain open. Who can represent platform workers—especially when their employment status is disputed? Which rights can representatives exercise collectively, and which remain individual rights that representatives can merely support? Do information and consultation amount to meaningful participation, or do they risk becoming purely procedural? How can collective actors help workers challenge automated decisions, establish their employment status or pursue complaints and legal claims? And does the Directive genuinely open the door to new forms of representation beyond traditional trade unions?

The event will bring legal analysis into conversation with practical experience from worker collectives in the delivery sector and lawyers involved in collective litigation against Uber. It will explore how collective organisation and legal enforcement operate in practice, what obstacles workers face, and whether the Directive offers useful new tools—or leaves crucial gaps.

The discussion is aimed at academics, trade unionists, worker organisers, lawyers, activists and others interested in the future of collective action in the platform economy.