Madrid (AFP)
Spanish deliverers of apps like Deliveroo or UberEats will now be automatically considered as employees: Spain announced Thursday the modification of its labor code to guarantee social protection for these precarious workers, a first in Europe.
All "are now employees and will be able to benefit from all the protections" resulting from this status, announced Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz, stressing that Spain was "the first EU country to legislate on this subject".
These delivery men, by bicycle or motorbike, whose number has exploded in recent years, have repeatedly denounced the precariousness of their working conditions in Spain, in the streets and in court.
The agreement, concluded Wednesday evening between the government, the main Spanish unions and the employers, consists in modifying the labor code to add "the presumption of wage earning for workers providing paid delivery services through companies performing this task thanks to to an algorithm managing the service or working conditions, through a digital platform, "said a press release from the ministry.
"I have said many times that a worker who cycles our streets with an app is not an entrepreneur," said Ms. Diaz.
From now on, they "will be employees, (companies) will contribute for them and they will be entitled to all the social protection that they do not have today," she said.
The text also provides that unions "must be informed of the rules governing algorithms and artificial intelligence systems that may have an impact on working conditions".
The allocation of working hours based on profiles created in an opaque way by algorithms is highly criticized by delivery men.
The reform will be approved by the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks and companies will have three months to comply, said Ms. Diaz.
The left-wing government relied on a Spanish Supreme Court ruling in September, which recognized the existence of a "working relationship" between a delivery man and the Spanish company Glovo.
- "Forced employment" -
In a joint statement, Deliveroo, Stuart, Glovo and UberEats see in this reform the creation of a "forced wage labor (...) endangering a sector which brings 700 million euros to the national GDP", criticizing "the obligation to reveal algorithms ".
The delivery collective Riders X Derechos "rejoiced" on Twitter about the reform, but regrets that it is "focused only on + riders +".
Other types of online platforms, such as teleoperators, "employ many more people" without being regulated, underlines Anna Gines, a specialist in labor law at the Esade school.
Spain remains a pioneer, however, as no European country currently has such legislation.
Delivery people are generally considered to be self-employed, especially in France.
In 2017, Belgium introduced a law creating a 10% tax on income from work for these platforms, but offering neither status nor social protection to deliverers.
In Italy, the main platforms signed an agreement in September with a minority union providing that each delivery person is a self-employed person who can work when he wants, establishing precise criteria for remuneration and insurance against work accidents.
But the main unions refused to sign due to the lack of paid leave and maternity leave.
In the UK, delivery men are also self-employed, but unions are trying to have them recognized as employees through ongoing legal proceedings, including one against Deliveroo before the London Court of Appeal.
However, some companies have decided to formalize their relations with their delivery people: Foodora has signed collective agreements with unions in Sweden and Norway, with improved wages as a result, while JustEat boasts of employing 22,000 salaried delivery men around the world. , and plans to hire 4,500 people on permanent contracts in France.
California passed a law in 2019, unique to the United States, requiring companies in the "gig economy" to consider their workers as employees and to grant them adequate social protection.
But it was ultimately rejected by a popular referendum last November.
© 2021 AFP