The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has criticised last week’s veto - by a minority of EU states – against an agreement to provide improved protections for workers forced into bogus self-employment.

The ETUC said the veto by France, Germany, Greece and Estonia is a major blow to millions of workers, including delivery riders, carers, taxi drivers and others working in Europe’s ‘gig’ economy.

It marks the failure of a second attempt to establish the Platform Work Directive, which would have effected major change across Europe’s gig economy.

The ETUC said the 23 countries that voted in favour should not delay, but instead “should work with trade unions and take action at national level to end the scandal of bogus self-employment.”

In a statement, the ETUC said the European Commission must follow through on its responsibilities and “ensure that all workers, including platform workers, are protected under EU employment law.”

Responding to last week’s development, ETUC Confederal Secretary Ludovic Voet said the failure to deliver on the promised platform work directive doesn’t postpone the urgency of the need for action and criticised the governments “with well-documented links to platform lobbyists” who had vetoed the directive.

In its newsletter this week the European Public Services Union (EPSU) said corporate Europe had lobbied hard to get this result “with the Uber transport platform in particular exploiting its links with the Macron government in France. It has also emerged that lead advisor of the German liberal FDP, part of the government coalition, was a lobbyist for a delivery platform.”

The four states involved had refused to support a revised directive which had toned down the legal presumption of an employment relationship, which has been described as the most contentious part of the directive.

Mr Voet criticised the “millionaire tech bros” whose “exploitative” business model had been protected by the veto and said they “shouldn’t celebrate too long”.

He added: “Any platform lobby claiming this directive will lead to massive reclassification of genuine self-employed was protecting their profits.

“Implementing the presumption of employment relationship, and the reversal of burden of proof at national level, is more urgent than ever,” he said.

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