Invisible workers in plain sight: Platform Labour in Albania

By Inva Koçiaj Çela, PhD Candidate, Digital Labour Platforms Gig Economy Fakulteti i Drejtesise — FDUT and Lecturer at University of Tirana, Faculty of Social Sciences

This blog is produced as a part of the Reshaping Work Fellowship Programme. The opinions and views expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of Reshaping Work or organisations that have supported the programme.

Visible on the streets, invisible in law

Platform workers are highly visible in Albanian cities, yet remain statistically and legally invisible. There is no official data on their number, as they are typically registered as self-employed individuals and engaged through service contracts. As a result, platform work falls outside the existing labour framework and remains statistically invisible and legally unrecognised within the existing labour framework. (European Training Foundation, 2022) According to the International Labour Organisation, digital labour platforms have expanded rapidly worldwide, yet reliable data on the number of platform workers remains limited. (International Labour Organization, 2026)

This contradiction is particularly evident among food delivery workers, including those working through platforms such as Wolt, who have repeatedly organised protests to demand better working conditions. [1] Their claims, however, have largely gone unheard. Platform workers in Albania operate in a grey zone. This contrasts with developments in several EU Member States, where platforms such as Wolt have begun adjusting their practices in response to emerging regulatory frameworks and the anticipated implementation of the Platform Work Directive. Formally, they are often classified as self-employed. In reality, their work is structured, monitored, and controlled by algorithms. This creates a paradox: they are economically dependent but legally treated as independent; they are managed, but without recognition of an employment relationship; they are present in public space, but absent from labour law protections. As a result, they fall outside the scope of key rights such as minimum wage guarantees, social security, and protection against unfair dismissal.

In recent years, delivery workers have organised several protests in Albania, raising concerns about low and unstable pay, the absence of social protection, and arbitrary account deactivations. Account deactivation represents one of the most critical and legally problematic aspects of algorithmic management. Workers can be excluded from the platform without prior notice, explanation or access to an effective appeal mechanism. In the Albanian context, this is further compounded by the absence of a clear legal framework defining the employment relationship, which prevents workers from challenging such decisions before labour institutions or courts. As a result, algorithmic deactivation operates as a form of unilateral termination without the procedural safeguards typically associated with dismissal under labour law. The main challenge in Albania lies in the absence of a legal framework addressing non-standard forms of work. Digital platform work remains legally unrecognised, as there are no specific normative provisions in the Labour Code that classify platform workers as employees or guarantee them social protection. Instead, their working relationships are typically governed through service contracts, leading to their classification as self-employed. This raises a critical question: Why do visible protests remain politically and legally invisible? Platform workers often operate outside formal labour law recognition. Without employee status, they lack access to core rights and effective legal remedies. As a result, their claims do not enter institutional channels such as labour inspectorates or courts, creating a disconnection between public visibility and legal recognition.

This situation is not unique to Albania. Similar patterns have been observed across Europe, where platform workers face comparable challenges as widely documented in recent policy and research reports. (Eurofound, 2018) However, recent developments at the EU level, particularly the adoption of the Platform Work Directive (EU) 2024/2831, signal a shift toward greater protection. The Directive introduces mechanisms aimed at clarifying employment status, increasing algorithmic transparency and strengthening workers’ rights. In contrast, Albania, as a candidate country for EU membership, is not yet legally bound to transpose Directive (EU) 2024/2831. However, it is under an obligation to progressively align its national legislation with the EU acquis, including adapting its Labour Code to the European legal framework governing employment relations. In practice, no concrete legislative or policy initiatives have been undertaken by the relevant authorities to address this alignment in the context of digital platform work, leaving this form of employment largely outside the scope of legal protection.

In this context, the protests of Wolt couriers may serve as an important alarm signal, drawing attention to the regulatory vacuum surrounding platform work. They highlight the urgent need for state institutions, trade unions and civil society actors to initiate legal reforms aimed at formally recognising digital platform work within the Albanian legal system and ensuring adequate protection for platform workers. The protest of platform workers in Albania should not be dismissed as isolated events. They represent an emerging form of labour resistance in the digital economy. Making these workers visible requires legal recognition, stronger institutional responsiveness and support for collective organisation. Until law and institutions catch up with the realities of digital labour, their voices, no matter how visible in the streets, will continue to go unheard.