There is one thing that parties in Sweden should agree on: There must be decent conditions in the labor market. It is above all about counteracting undeclared work and ensuring that people are not exploited, and at the beginning of the week appointed the government an investigation to combat cheating and work-related crime.
Because if the biggest challenge in the early 2000s was to transform black cleaning services into white ones, today, in addition to dealing with cheating, it is to steer the so-called gig economy. There, more and more people take short and temporary assignments via apps.
With today’s legislation The companies that provide the platforms are often not classified as employers, which The Swedish Work Environment Authority right recently noted. Thus, they are not responsible for the working environment and then the authority can not make legitimate demands.
Creating simpler jobs is one thing. Letting significant parts of industries ignore the legislation is another.
Add that the industry has long been criticized for poor working conditions and actors who just avoid employer liability, and that Ratio has described it as the activities “to a large extent (located) in a no-man’s land regarding social insurance, employment conditions and work environment regulation”. Then it becomes clear that a regulation is required so that, for example, more bicycle couriers who deliver food get the same social security as others, and for that the European Commission has produced proposals for action.
To create easier job is one thing. Letting significant parts of industries ignore the legislation is another.
It became not least clear when a journalist on Sydsvenskan worked as a bicycle courier for a food supplier for a month. Afterwards, he described, among other things, constant pressure and how the employer could suddenly extend work shifts without asking.
Wanting to steer that situation does not imply a desire to stop a growing industry. It is about everyone, both professions and employees, once being new and needing some time to fit in.
Read more articles by Susanne Nyström.