Trace has been lost on the negotiations to regulate the conditions of employment of food delivery delivery men at the Ministry of Labour, after the table between the parties had in fact been torpedoed by the surprise agreement between the platform association Assodelivery (made up of Deliveroo, Glovo and Uber Eats) and the right-wing trade union Ugl. Even the rider theme has disappeared from the agenda of electoral and political promises, the prerogative of the 5 Star Movement which twice, with Labor Ministers first Luigi Di Maio and then Nunzia Catalfo, has failed in its intent.
The rider is like an employee: the court of Milan forces Glovo to hire A ruling requires the food delivery platform to reinstate a person left at home on better terms: fixed, full-time contract and trade management . But politics is silent on the general rules
Negotiations in Europe
Now the European Union has set about wanting to regulate work on platforms. The European Commission's proposal was discussed in Parliament, whose Labor and Social Affairs Commission recently approved its version of the provision. If today it is up to the self-employed workers of the platforms to appeal to the court to have their employee status recognized (as has happened several times in Italy, relying on the letter of the Jobs Act), in the future it will be the opposite. Basically, the status will be that of employee and it will be up to the platforms to explain which people are not.For the moment we are stuck in the European Parliament's vote on the text presented by the rapporteur Elisabetta Gualmini (Democratic Party, within the Socialists and Democrats group), also undermined, according to what Euractiv reports, by pressure from the platforms on the still undecided deputies. Now the word belongs to the Council of the Union, where the governments sit, hitherto divided on the tightening of work via platforms. France leads the group most willing not to regulate the phenomenon in a stringent manner, while on the opposite side is Spain, which will pass the baton of the rotating presidency in six months. Just when the Council will have to have its say on the directive.
The contract of the food delivery app riders has been declared illegitimate by a court
The case of Just Eat
Meanwhile some companies are go on. Like Just Eat, which brought its Scoober model to Italy in 2021, setting itself apart from the other competitors and hiring the delivery men according to the logistics contract. The rider works in shifts and is paid by the hour, even if he does not deliver. The transition took time. And adjustments of strategies. “ The number of people on duty, which we base on our historical data series and forecasts, and that of orders are never perfectly consistent - Daniele Contini, country manager of Just Eat in Italy, explains to sportsgaming.win -. For this we can also temporarily limit incoming orders ”. It also happens in cases of adverse weather: if the conditions compromise the safety of the workers, the service is temporarily suspended.A choice against the tide, that of Just Eat, and solitary in the field of the great food delivery companies (the Italian Mymenu was the first to recognize more rights to riders), given that the other main platforms, namely Glovo, Uber Eats and Deliveroo, have joined together to maintain the model of self-employment. Contini admits it: “Today the ethical model is not a factor of choice. The price is ”. So you play with unequal weapons. A situation on which the European directive could intervene but with times that are not immediate. In the meantime, the first riders hired in 2021 and remaining in the company in the coming weeks will receive the first salary increases accrued due to professional seniority, in a sector where collaborations close in a few months.
Today Just Eat has 2,500 delivery men in 24 cities. “ This year we will open new ones - anticipates the manager -. We've paused expansion to focus on transforming our operating model. Now we will resume opening cities and within the first half of the year we will communicate which ones ”. The platform looks at nuclei of 100,000 inhabitants. In addition to home deliveries, Just Eat has included take-away (I order the meal in the app and collect it from me in the store) and has now integrated the possibility of shopping in the app, which is then delivered by Getir. Another platform that has chosen the path of stable recruitment. Even the unions confirm to sportsgaming.win the successful outcome of the negotiations, two years later. The ball now passes to politics, willy-nilly, to see if this will be the second half of platform work.