• The rights of digital platforms at the time. The case of the Riders
  • Profession riders: on the bike at 4 euros an hour serving the algorithm of an app

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May 29, 2020 The Milan court, preventive measures section, has ordered the commissioner of the company Uber Italy to be hired.

The collected elements would lead to the accusation of exploitation of the riders who deliver food at home with Uber Eats, the special service app connected to the car rental group.

The investigation is underway and the measure is still being carried out by the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Milan Guardia di Finanza, with the coordination of the prosecutor Paolo Storari. The exploitation indices assessed by the judge - the president of the prevention measures section
of the court of Milan, Fabio Roia - who signed the judicial administration measure against the Italian company of the multinational Uber are essentially two: the exploitation of the work and the exploitation of the state of need. 

In the investigation, which also led to a series of searches, the offense provided for in article 603bis of the Criminal Code is contested, ie the "illicit brokerage and exploitation of work" for the management of the bellboys who make food deliveries at home for the Uber Eats service.  

Fattorini who, according to what has been reconstructed, formally do not work for Uber but for two other brokerage companies in the logistics sector, including the Flash Road City which is investigated in the proceeding.

The investigation on the
riders The world of cyclists or riders, with particular reference to the city of Milan, told starting from the collection and analysis of the testimonies of over 300 workers, had won the 2018 edition of the Morrione Prize, webdoc section, and was published by Rainews.it.

The "Welcome to Your Gig" investigation, by Lorenzo Pirovano and Giovanni Sacchi , already at that time revealed data, faces and distortions of the still little known world of the gig economy and its active businesses in Italy.

Paid € 3 per hour
According to the investigation conducted by the investigators of the Gdf and coordinated by the Milanese investigators, the messengers of Uber Eats were hired by some intermediary companies such as the aforementioned Flash Road City Srl, of Milan, which paid them 3.75 gross euros per delivery, or approximately 3 euros net if they
used the bicycle; 3.50 euros if on a scooter. 

The third company that worked on behalf of Uber Italy was looking for workers, almost all from "conflict areas of the planet (Mali, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea, Pakistan, Bangladesh and others) and whose vulnerability has been marked for years of wars and food poverty, "reads the text.

The judge also considered the "strong social isolation in which these workers live", which offers "the opportunity to find work at very low cost, since they are people willing to do anything to survive, exploited and discriminated against by unscrupulous employers "