Meanwhile the EU.

[Scot Dutchy]

Gig economy workers to get employee rights under EU proposals

Dutch company Just Eat Takeaway offers employee status to workers who have been on the platform for more than 100 hours. Photograph: Robin Utrecht/Rex/Shutterstock

Draft legislation would improve status of millions of workers, with likely knock-on effect on UK despite Brexit

Gig economy companies operating in the European Union, such as Uber and Deliveroo, must ensure workers get the minimum wage, access to sick pay, holidays and other employment rights under plans for new laws to crack down on fake self-employment.
Publishing long-awaited draft legislation on Thursday, the European Commission said the burden of proof on employment status would shift to companies, rather than the individuals that work for them. Until now, gig economy workers have had to go to court to prove they are employees, or risk being denied basic rights.

Nicolas Schmit, EU commissioner for jobs and social rights, told the Guardian and other European newspapers that internet platforms “have used grey zones in our legislation [and] all possible ambiguities” to develop their business models, resulting in a “misclassification” of millions of workers

[Svartalf]

Honestly, that should have been done years ago... the not so polite fiction of uber & co only being platforms that put independent operators in contact with customers, just so the drivers and deliveryfolk are well and truly hosed from not getting proper benefits from working (you know, stuff like paying for health insurance and pension rights), is the kind of hypocrisy that makes me want to tax capitalists 100% from the first red cent.

[Scot Dutchy]

Brussels launches legal action over Polish rulings against EU law

European Commission says it has ‘serious concerns’ about challenges by Warsaw’s constitutional tribunal

The European Commission has begun legal action against Poland over rulings by the country’s constitutional court that challenged the supremacy of EU law, in an escalation of the long-running battle between Brussels and Warsaw.

The EU executive said it had “serious concerns” about the Polish constitutional tribunal and its recent case law, citing rulings where the court had challenged the primacy of EU law.

Striking at the heart of the EU legal order, Poland’s constitutional tribunal ruled in July that measures imposed by the European court of justice were unconstitutional, with warnings of a legal “Polexit”.

Poland the first country to get kicked out?

[Scot Dutchy]

We should have remained as the "seven". Enlarging too quickly was a bad idea.