Italy : Reclassification of Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat riders

Following a secret inquiry, the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office has established that the employment relationship of riders working for different digital platforms (Foodinho, Glovo, UberEats, JustEat and Deliveroo) cannot be considered as occasional independent work, but must be reclassified as hetero-organized collaboration. The Court gave the companies 90 days to hire 60,000 workers. In case of failure to do so, the Court would issue an injuction and legal procedures would go ahead. The companies also had to pay fines for 733 million euros over non-respect of health and safety measures. The investigation also revealed that the workers were managed by an IT platform which ranked the riders according to performance, forcing them to accept all orders and preventing them from taking holidays or sick leave. As part of the provision, the companies were also asked to pay riders overdue contributions and provide them with adequate equipment, such as bicycles with lighting or suitable clothing.

Digital Platform Observatory

The digital platform observatory is a joint initiative of ETUC, IRES and ASTREES, funded by the European Commission. It brings together trade unionists, experts, activists, specialists of workers representation and collective action in the  platform economy.