Interdisciplinary seminar on the EU Platform Work Directive: does it work?

Online platforms have transformed the way millions of people work, from food delivery to taxi rides, bringing new opportunities but also new vulnerabilities, such as unclear employment status and algorithmic management. With the EU Platform Work Directive (2024/2831), the legislator has responded, but does it address the problems platform workers encounter?

Date: Wednesday 4 Nov 2026, 13:00 - 17:00
Type: Workshop
Spoken Language: English
Location: In Rotterdam, TBD

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Online platforms have created new types of work (for example Amazon Mechanical Turk) and have transformed the way traditional work (or labour) can be organized. Typical examples of industries where platformisation has been prominent are cleaning, taxi-rides and food delivery.

In the wake of the transforming effects that online platforms have on work, researchers from various disciplines have been mapping consequences and identified key issues related to platform work. One notable development in the legal area is the adoption of the European Directive on improving working conditions in platform work (Directive (EU) 2024/2831). The Directive contains rules regarding the ‘correct’ employment status of persons performing platform work and rules on algorithmic management, such as automated monitoring and automated decision making.

This raises the question if and how the rules of the Directive match the issues that are connected to platformisation of work and labour.

In this event, we aim to bring together academics and practitioners from different disciplines with an interest in platform work to share their work and insights. The main question we explore during this event is: does the EU Platform Work Directive address the issues that are raised by work platforms? This includes questions such as: what problems do platform workers encounter? What (new) issues arise with the rise of platform work?

**Provisional program:**
Time	Activity
13:00	Walk in and registration
13:30	Research Pitches Participants are randomly matched in groups of three and asked to pitch their (research) interest to each other
14:00	Keynote-panel Miriam Kullmann, Utrecht University, Full Professor in Labour and Social Security Law and member of the European Committee of Social Rights Roy Huijsmans, Associate Professor, International Institute of Social Sciences
15:00	Coffee Break
15:30	Roundtable discussion With experts from different fields of expertise several questions will be further explored: Are platform workers self-employed or employees and what status would be preferable? What are the risks and rules related to algorithmic management and automated monitoring systems? Confirmed experts: Nuna Zevic (Uva), Fenna Nijboer (EUR), Martijn Muller (Vrij Ondernemende Bezorgerscoöperatie), Damion Bunders (UU), Fransisca Grommé (EUR)
16:30	Networking over drinks