Your delivery driver's employment rights were lobbied on 71 times
The EU Platform Work Directive decides whether Uber drivers, Bolt couriers, Deliveroo riders, and Wolt delivery workers are employees or self-employed. The difference is enormous: employees get minimum wage, sick pay, holiday, and social security contributions. Self-employed workers get none of those protections.
Bolt held 38 meetings with EU officials specifically about platform work — meeting 15 unique officials. Uber held 33, meeting 12 officials including Commissioner Nicolas Schmit himself (twice) and multiple cabinet members. Deliveroo had 20 meetings. Wolt had 20. Together, the four largest platform companies held 111 meetings on the directive that would regulate their workforce model.
The vote flip
On 2 February 2023, the European Parliament voted on the Platform Work Directive. 138 MEPs voted against. On 24 April 2024, the same MEPs voted for the final text. The largest bloc of flippers came from the ECR group (mainly Polish PiS members) and EPP.
The text changed between the two votes — the final version was a compromise weakened in trilogue negotiations. Platform companies had lobbied intensively during that period. The question journalists should ask: did the companies succeed in weakening the text enough that MEPs who opposed it originally found the final version acceptable? Or did something else change?
The access gap
Trade unions lobbied too — the European Trade Union Confederation had 11 meetings, Spanish UGT had 10, Danish 3F had 12. But the platform companies had a structural advantage: four companies alone (Uber, Bolt, Deliveroo, Wolt) held more meetings than all trade unions combined. And they met directly with the Commissioner and his cabinet, while many union meetings were at director level.
The Platform Work Directive is now law. But its implementation depends on how member states transpose it — and platform companies are already lobbying at national level. GovLens tracks both EU and national lobby registers. Search any platform company to see their full meeting history.