The BMAS took up the main topic of the digital summit "Platforms" in the context of a "Speed Debate" with Minister Hubertus Heil. After a short Q & A session with the minister and the two hosts Geraldine de Bastion and Lars Gaede, Hubertus Heil discussed the upcoming political and social configuration tasks in the area of platform work with the platform founder Arne-Christian Sigge, the crowdworker Irina Kretmscher, the trade unionist Michael Silberman and the lawyer Andreja Schneider-Dörr. In May of this year, all four had taken part in two labs which the Policy Lab Digital, Work & Society had carried out with external experts. In recent months, the labs' discussion statuses have been incorporated into the BMAS´ conceptual considerations on design approaches for good work in the platform economy.

Conflicts of goals between platform providers and platform workers will not go away

Platforms are an increasingly important part of the labour market which can contribute to good work and employment as well as to economic development in Germany. At the same time, the Minister noted that even in the modern world of work, different interests - specifically between platforms, clients and contractors - will not disappear. It´s decisive where and how the interests can be negotiated jointly and at eye level. In the end, there is no alternative to platforms taking responsibility. Hubertus Heil cited the question of how employee rights can also be guaranteed for self-employed platform workers on work platforms as a guard rail for the current discussion in the ministry and how it can be ensured that work platforms also make a contribution to social security. One of the political tasks is to turn technical progress into social progress.