Home meal deliverers demonstrated against precariousness and their working conditions -

SEVGI / SIPA

  • Barbara Gomes is responsible for the Maison des coursiers project.

    “The platforms refuse to assume their role of employer.

    The idea is therefore to have a dedicated space, a refuge for couriers, ”explains the Paris counselor (PCF).

  • This stop will be located in the 18th arrondissement, a priori on Boulevard Barbès, instead of a former EDF store.

  • An operating grant must be voted on at the next Paris Council which opens on Tuesday.

They are rolling.

Whether it's windy, rainy, they roll to deliver burgers, sushi, pizzas and poke bowls to businesses and buildings.

And between two races, they wait in the street.

On the front line during the various confinements, more and more of them are even walking the streets and sharing customers.

And without a break.

Faced with this observation, the elected Parisian Communists, led by councilor Barbara Gomes, decided to tackle the problem head-on and to create the Maison des Coursiers in the capital.

A first.

This stop will be located in the 18th arrondissement, a priori on Boulevard Barbès, instead of a former EDF store.

If the project was adopted by the district council of the 18th arrondissement at the end of November, an amendment will be tabled at the Paris Council which opens on Tuesday, as part of the 2021 budget, to obtain a subsidy of 45,000 euros in order to make operate this future House of couriers with multiple functions.

"To find in dignity"

“The platforms refuse to assume their role of employer.

The idea is therefore to have a dedicated space, a refuge where couriers can meet, rest, discuss, shelter from the cold, have access to showers and toilets.

In fact, to regain dignity, ”explains Barbara Gomes.

This "house" will be managed by people from the Coopcycle association, a federation of bicycle delivery cooperatives.

The place must also allow professional and social support.

“This space will also allow them to know their rights, their access to health, and possibly to be professionally oriented to get out of the clutches of its structures.

Currently, it is precarious work in a lawless area, ”says Nicolas Bonnet-Oulaldj, president of the PCF group at the Paris Council.

“We are still at the experimental stage, but this is a strong message from the city of Paris.

We say "you can no longer continue to make our city more precarious," "continues Barbara Gomes.

The delivery people will be able to go to the toilets, drink a coffee, and above all discuss, structure themselves.

“It will be a place of social connection.

Currently, if they have difficulty defending their rights, it is because we are in an individualism organized by these platforms, ”concludes Nicolas Bonnet-Oulaldj.

Barbara Gomès specifies: "They will thus be able to forge a bond of trust and create a collective".

Towards other couriers?

The idea would be more that this House of couriers no longer exists in the years to come and that the platforms "assume their role", indicates the elected officials.

But right now, they hope to send a strong message.

“Our initiative is to carry this project politically, hoping that it will inspire other elected officials and cities in France.

And on the other hand, we want the state to force platforms to respect labor law, ”says Barbara Gomès.

This week, in Bordeaux and Lyon, delivery people asked to be reclassified as platform employees and on permanent contracts.

Our dossier on Paris

After defending the establishment of an anti-Amazon platform, elected Communists now hope that for the delivery sector the city is committed to a model more oriented towards collaborative platform systems.

In the meantime, this first House of couriers could open in the coming months.

Contacted by

20 Minutes

, Deliveroo did not respond to our requests.

For its part, Uber Eats does not comment on the initiative but recalls that “every year we conduct a consultation with delivery people and the concern that has been raised is the subject of waiting time in front of restaurants.

This is a subject on which we want to make progress so that the waiting time is reduced ”.

At the call of collectives, the deliverers will be on national strike this Sunday to demand an improvement in their working conditions.

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  • Paris

  • Uber

  • Delivery man

  • Deliveroo

  • Pcf

  • Betting tip