Vestager Promises Antitrust Rules Won’t Stop Gig Worker Unions

(Bloomberg) -- European Union Antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, a frequent foe of Silicon Valley, took another shot at tech companies Thursday, promising that EU rules can’t be used to stop gig economy workers from forming unions.

"We need to make sure there is nothing in competition rules to stop platform workers from forming a union and to negotiate proper wages as you would do in any other business," she said in a speech in Brussels Thursday. "Our starting assumption is that they are falsely labelled as self-employed" and "de facto depend mostly on one employer."

Trade unions have been seeking the right to lobby internet sites, such as Deliveroo and Uber Technologies Inc., for better pay and conditions. Competition rules were used by Irish regulators to scrutinize some wage agreements, eventually forcing a change in the law.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aoife White in Brussels at awhite62@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net

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