France under Emmanuel Macron is missing an opportunity to improve the situation of platform workers in general and bicycle couriers in particular, symbols of the uberization of jobs. Like all twenty-seven members of the European Union, the country has until December 2, 2026, to transpose into national law the European directive on improving working conditions in platform work.

Hesitant advances

France obstructed this text until the end and finally voted against it during debates in the European Commission. It was adopted on October 23, 2024. Nothing surprising when you think about it. The revelations known as Uberfiles showed how the President of the Republic, then Minister of Economy under François Hollande, favored the development of Uber and its economic model based on the exploitation of workers, forced to adopt self-employed status.

What does this directive, which Macronism fiercely opposed, say? It aims to correct "false self-employment" by establishing a rebuttable legal presumption of an employment relationship. In other words, anyone working for Uber, Deliveroo and similar companies is presumed to be an employee, unless the platform proves otherwise. It is up to the States, and this is where the directive remains deliberately vague, to specify the implementation modalities of the text validated by the European Parliament. The directive is clearer on regulating algorithmic management and requiring greater transparency of surveillance systems.

Don't touch my Uber

To comply with its obligations, in February 2026 the government tasked Jérôme Marchand-Arvier, Nathalie Collin and Antoine Bergeaud, State Councilor, General Director of the Digital Branch of La Poste and Professor of Economics respectively, with "identifying several scenarios for transposition". The mission letter dampens any ambition for concrete advances for platform workers. Praising the fact that "the platform economy has created new services, spurred an innovation process that benefits company competitiveness", the letter sets out a "balance that both consolidates the rights of platform workers and improves their working conditions, without destabilizing the development of these new forms of employment or discouraging innovation".

A message received loud and clear by the triumvirate, which in its initial guidelines issued in September 2026 advises "not upsetting the current balance of the legal framework for employment/self-employment". Instead of an automatic presumption a priori, the appointed experts recommend only "substantial procedural simplification for faster rulings in labor courts".

Far, very far from the positions of the CGT, which calls for "the implementation of an automatic and collective presumption of an employment relationship that would allow thousands of falsely self-employed workers to be recognized as employees", explains Laurent Baratin, confederal advisor in charge of employment and unemployment insurance. "I don't know to what extent a courier earning 5 euros an hour will take their case to a labor court to have their contract reclassified as an employment contract", adds Arthur Hay, advocacy officer at the Bordeaux couriers' house, who adds that "the government really does not want to recognize the presumption of an employment relationship".

Arpe, the unions' nightmare

Another source of concern for trade unions and bicycle courier collectives is the possibility of strengthening the powers of Arpe (the Authority for Social Relations of Employment Platforms), set up in 2021, under the joint supervision of the Ministries of Labor and Transport. "The nightmare of trade union organizations", according to Laurent Baratin. "This pseudo-negotiating body, essentially in the hands of platforms, bypasses sectoral negotiations and serves as a fig leaf for a third status aimed at exempting contracting companies from their employer obligations. According to the government mission's guidelines, the aim would be to strengthen its powers, particularly in terms of oversight, at the expense of those of the labor inspectorate".

As for algorithmic management, the policing of modern times, the mission advises to «make algorithmic transparency a concrete and useful reality».

While a press conference was scheduled for this Thursday, October 22, to present the report on the transposition of the European directive, the Ministry of Labor cancelled it at the last minute due to more urgent news. On September 11, already, Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou had told AFP that «the European directive cannot be transposed before the December 2 deadline and is unlikely to be transposed before the end of the five-year presidential term». «The current government does not want a transposition, or at best a minimum transposition that would ratify the existence of a third status unfavorable to workers», comments Ludovic Rioux from CGT transports.

1480 gross euros per month for 63 hours of work per week

Nevertheless, there is urgency, given the deplorable daily struggle of platform workers. A study conducted jointly by a team of researchers (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement-IRD and Institut national d'études démographiques-Ined) and Médecins du Monde among a thousand bicycle couriers and published last March highlighted the effects of uberization on the physical and mental health of bicycle couriers, who are today mostly undocumented immigrants.

The survey, unprecedented in its scope, establishes that bicycle couriers work an average of 63 hours per week, for constantly decreasing earnings averaging 1480 gross euros per month. That is an average hourly income below 6 gross euros, or a payment per delivery of 4.55 gross euros. The frenetic pace, the constant pressure exerted by algorithmic management, and economic insecurity damage bodies and minds. 58.7% of couriers have already had at least one accident in the course of their work, one third suffers from stomach ailments and urinary disorders, half from shortness of breath and sleep problems. 44% consider themselves in psychological distress. 42% say they have experienced at least one day without a meal in the last twelve months.

On October 6, 2026, the Court of Cassation confirmed the conviction pronounced in April 2022 against former Deliveroo directors for concealed employment, having abusively imposed self-employed status on couriers placed under their control. Despite this, the government prefers to celebrate the rapid growth of digital platforms, which according to its calculations saw their revenues multiplied by five between 2016 and 2020. In its way of thinking, might makes right.