{"id":1639,"date":"2024-05-08T16:35:35","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T16:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ibarrapg.com\/?p=1639"},"modified":"2026-04-06T18:29:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T18:29:56","slug":"labor-relations-in-digital-platforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibarrapg.com\/en\/labor-relations-in-digital-platforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor Relations in Digital Platforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since the COVID-19 pandemic there has been an increase in the economic model known as the sharing or collaborative economy<\/strong> (commonly referred to as the Gig Economy), which is characterized by the utilization of new technologies<\/strong> to provide, purchase, sell, share, or rent goods and services.<\/p>\n

Thus, there has also been a rise in the use of digital delivery and driving platforms, but could the drivers or couriers of these platforms be considered as workers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Mexico, there is still no definitive criterion to determine the status of drivers and couriers on these platforms as they lack social or labor protections<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There is a wide variety of work modalities through digital platforms, but the conditions for drivers and couriers tend to be very similar. This allows us to refer to judicial resolutions issued in Spain, France, Colombia, and Uruguay, whose respective Courts concluded that there is indeed an employment relationship between the company and the driver or courier<\/strong>. This determination is based on factors such as the company exercising supervision through management functions, imposing sanctions, and giving instructions. Consequently, the drivers and couriers lack autonomy, and their income depends on the platform.<\/p>\n

In Argentina and in Seattle, United States, the right of drivers to collectively bargain<\/strong> has even been recognized.<\/p>\n

In the document by the International Labor Organization<\/strong> titled “World Employment and Social Outlook: The Role of Digital Platforms in Transforming the World of Work”, published in 2021, it was considered that some of the fundamental principles and rights<\/strong> for platform workers to be considered as decent work, regardless of their contractual situation, are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Freedom of association and effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.<\/li>\n
  2. Elimination of forced labor.<\/li>\n
  3. Elimination of child labor.<\/li>\n
  4. Occupational safety and health.<\/li>\n
  5. Social security.<\/li>\n
  6. Employment policy and job creation.<\/li>\n
  7. Labor inspection.<\/li>\n
  8. Payment system.<\/li>\n
  9. Fair termination.<\/li>\n
  10. Access to data and the right to privacy.<\/li>\n
  11. Clear contractual conditions.<\/li>\n
  12. Labor mobility.<\/li>\n
  13. Grievance handling and conflict resolution.<\/li>\n
  14. Prohibition of discrimination and equal pay, which entails imposing a responsibility on the company to influence the non-discrimination of the client against the driver or courier.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Despite the above, there are still international judicial criteria in which greater importance is given to written documentation<\/strong>, aspects not under the control<\/strong> of platforms such as setting prices by the market and the possibility that drivers or couriers work independently<\/strong> in multiple platforms at the same time.<\/p>\n

    There are also intermediate criteria whose resolutions vary based on the interpretation of the law<\/strong> and depending on whether the functions are intermittent and occasional or if there are multiple employers.<\/p>\n

    What is the Trend in Mexico?<\/h4>\n

    In November 2020, Senator X\u00f3chitl G\u00e1lvez of the National Action Party and in October 2021, Senator Lilia Margarita Valdez Mart\u00ednez of the National Regeneration Movement party, separately presented initiatives to reform the Federal Labor Law to regulate work through Digital Platforms<\/strong>. Through these initiatives, it was proposed to recognize drivers, couriers and messengers<\/strong> of digital platforms as workers, regardless of whether they are hired by one or more employers and in favor of one or more users and whose tasks or jobs are assigned through any technological tool or algorithm, and to whom the general rights established in section A of article 123 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States would apply.<\/p>\n

    On their part, labor judges in Mexico, as well as those international courts that have recognized delivery drivers and platform drivers as workers, have prioritized the principle of primacy of reality in their rulings on labor relations<\/strong>. This principle asserts that the existence of an employment relationship is confirmed by actual circumstances and is not solely determined by contractual appearance.<\/p>\n

    How to be Prepared for these Trends?<\/h4>\n

    Considering the global trend, we believe that in Mexico, digital platforms would need to be prepared for a possible adjustment in their work scheme<\/strong> in order to act purely as intermediaries or facilitators between service providers and seekers.<\/p>\n

    This could be achieved by giving greater autonomy to drivers and couriers<\/strong> over the form and amount of payment, the choice of trips to be made, the possibility of being contracted on various platforms so that their main income does not depend on a single platform, as well as a flexible scheme in the terms of employment, could reduce the risk of drivers and couriers being considered as workers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Since the COVID-19 pandemic there has been an increase in the economic model known as the sharing or collaborative economy (commonly referred to as the Gig Economy), which is characterized by the utilization of new technologies to provide, purchase, sell, share, or rent goods and services. Thus, there has also been a rise in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-otros"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibarrapg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibarrapg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibarrapg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibarrapg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibarrapg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1639"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibarrapg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3373,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibarrapg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639\/revisions\/3373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibarrapg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibarrapg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibarrapg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibarrapg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}