Rider on strike throughout Italy: today is the "no delivery day"
National 24-hour strike of local public transport
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March 26, 2021It is the "No delivery day". No rider deliveries in over 30 Italian cities, with the invitation to customers not to place orders on home delivery platforms, which have grown exponentially over the last year with the closure of bars and restaurants and people forced to home for the pandemic. The national mobilization was organized by the RiderXiDiritti network to emphasize the fact that throughout Europe companies regulate cyclofactors and guarantee them rights, safety and wages. In Italy, however, many still refuse the confrontation with the trade unions to arrive at contracts that protect the riders.
Platforms: no impact on business from strike
According to Adnkronos / Labitalia from sources of food delivery platforms, "today's strike by the riders did not have a significant impact on our business activities, we have not registered any particular drops".
Rider: in Milan 'bike strike' through city streets
The riders who protested today in Milan on the occasion of the nationally proclaimed strike day, the 'no delivery day', ask for 'guaranteed income and wages'.
A protest that in the Lombard capital was held in two distinct moments: this morning with a participated garrison in Piazza XXIV Maggio, where the delivery staff explained the reasons for their abstention from work, and this afternoon through the streets of the city.
In the afternoon almost 300 riders participated in the 'bikestrike' organized by ADL Cobas, CDNL - Camera del non lavoro and SI Cobas, traveling through the city with their work vehicles and making a stop in the Prefecture, in piazzale Loreto, in front of the Glovo headquarters, to a Mc Donald's and to Assolombarda, where they said: "We reject to the sender the shameful agreement signed by Ugl with Assodelivery right here".
In the various stages, the riders lit smoke bombs and hoisted banners.
Cyclists on the street in Trieste: never again without rights
Over a hundred cyclists crossed the city center this afternoon, amidst striking riders and participants in a so-called 'Critical mass', young people asking for a form of sustainable mobility.
The group gathered in Piazza Goldoni and pedaling through the streets of Trieste, ringing the bells, flashing the LEDs and shouting slogans such as "rights for riders" and "no more deliveries without rights".
According to the organizers of the 'Critical mass', it was not an event but a "safe space on the move" to ask for sustainable mobility.
The riders, on the other hand, joined the national strike called by the 'Rider X i Rights' network.
Among their requests, the guarantee of a minimum wage, holidays, leave and sickness, the recognition of the status of employees and the possibility of renewing residence permits.
Strike in Bologna: that of Ugl and Assodelivery is a scam agreement
"The one between Ugl and Assodelivery for us is a scam agreement, signed behind the workers. It maintains the status quo, considers self-employed workers, without any kind of protection, guarantee and keeps the piece ".
This is said by Tommaso Falchi of the Riders Union Bologna who today, as in 30 other Italian cities, took to the streets to claim the rights of food delivery messengers.
"How is it possible to work at piece rates in 2021? Increase competition between workers, where to run and burn traffic lights to bring home a worthy pay? It is unacceptable", continues Falchi.
The riders' claims are clear: "We want a guaranteed amount of hours, a fixed hourly wage, sickness, holidays and trade union rights. It can be done, in Spain two weeks ago a law was made that says that riders are employees. . In half the world the riders are agreed, the Milan prosecutor has clearly said that we are not slaves, we are workers and companies must hire us. With this strike, the time has come to give these extractive capitalist platforms a push. "
In Naples, "zero earnings"
In Naples a garrison was organized in Piazza Municipio and a road block that created inconvenience to traffic.
Mario Mazza of RiderXidiritti: "Today we are here to send a message to the platforms, we have decided to join the strike to say enough to the new hires and the abuse of over serving by the platforms that, in order to have more riders on Saturday night, continue to hire and we no longer have deliveries during the week, we don't have fixed hours, earnings have dropped to zero and rates have dropped.The contract signed on November 3 by Assodelivery Ugl has given us neither protection nor rights, it has worsened our conditions; we ask for protection, rights and real work ".
Another rider: "We are becoming too many, they have to stop hiring, no longer take a delivery, we risk making accidents with the scooter, we get under the water in the cold, we risk robberies, then there is wear and tear of the vehicle, we only lose petrol and insurance. We ask for the minimum guaranteed time, even if we can't get a delivery in two hours, and that hiring stops ".
CGIL: "Assodelivery open the comparison immediately"
"For some time we have been engaged in a battle against companies in the sector, to which we strongly ask to make the new organizational models compatible with the rights and protections of the riders".
This was stated by the confederal secretary of the CGIL, Tania Scacchetti, on the occasion of the national mobilization of the 'No delivery day' riders.
For the union leader "until today, despite an important confrontation with Assodelivery with which we signed the Procotollo against hiring and exploitation two days ago and despite several sentences, investigations and interventions by the Ministry of Labor and the National Inspectorate of work, the riders do not yet have the right protections and the right rights. We can't wait any longer ".
"Assodelivery should immediately open the discussion to guarantee all workers the regulatory and wage conditions of the national collective bargaining agreement and to guarantee them safety at work. The struggle of the riders - concludes Scacchetti - is a struggle for the dignity of work, against the exploitation and precariousness ".
Tuesday Ugl national demonstration in Montecitorio square
Tuesday 30 March, from 10 am to 1 pm, the Ugl Rider demonstration will be held in Piazza Montecitorio in Rome.
The national mobilization starts from the capital to continue in the other squares of Italy.
The Iorestoautonomo hashtag is launched by Ugl to give a voice to the rider population.
"It might seem unusual to refuse a subordinate contract, however the work of the riders, born for the delivery of food at home, has different dynamics and needs. In fact, riders play a totally innovative profession and as such cannot be anchored. to the rigidity of old contractual schemes or to a subordinate employment relationship ", explains Vincenzo Abbrescia, national secretary of Ugl Rider.
"Thinking that the solution for riders can be subordinate work means damaging the nature of this profession. I am referring to the unconditional flexibility, working hours of 10 hours a week, the obligation to work rigid shifts and subject to disciplinary power, but above all a salary that is limited to a few hundred euros per month ", he adds.
For Abbrescia "the Ugl supports the recognition of the rider's work independently, to which the widest protections: social security, training, insurance and safety at work, which starts from the National Collective Labor Agreement AssoDelivery and improves the economic and regulatory conditions. this is the meaning of the #Iorestoautonomo movement ".
Fratoianni: a law and government initiative
is needed "Today is #NoDeliveryDay, the first national strike of the riders who ask to overcome the pirate contract signed last autumn by the FoodDelivery platforms with a non-representative union, the union close to the Lega and Salvini. They ask to be hired as subordinate workers, to exceed the piece rate by obtaining a guaranteed hourly wage and to have their rights and protections recognized such as holidays, maternity, sickness and access to social safety nets. And finally, to reach a national collective agreement . "
This was stated by the national secretary of the Italian Left Nicola Fratoianni.
"The first victories are coming - continues the leader of SI - the judgments of the courts are demolishing the system of digital exploitation piece by piece, although there is still a long way to go, and the signing of the memorandum of understanding between platforms and trade unions against illegal hiring and exploitation in the sector a few days ago is another step in the right direction ".
"And today, together with the riders, entertainment and logistics workers also took to the streets, to pursue their claims and converge in a common battle. We are with them. - concludes Fratoianni - On the side of workers against the exploitation of platforms to ask for income, rights and dignity. Now the time has come for the government to move in this direction ".
M5s: always alongside cyclofattorini, the goal is a collective agreement
"Even today, in the #NoDeliveryDay, we are alongside the riders, the workers who bring us food home and who played an essential role during the pandemic".
The 5 Star Movement writes it on its Facebook page.
"Since the day we went to the government of the country, we have set the goal of giving cyclists more rights and dignity. At the Ministry of Labor this path, with Luigi Di Maio first and then Nunzia Catalfo, has led - continues the post - to achieve important results. In fact, with the Save Enterprises Decree, in 2019 we established the abolition of pure piecework and provided for riders who carry out the activity on a continuous basis, guarantees ranging from hourly wages linked to collective labor agreements to parental leave, including holidays, sickness, protection in the event of unlawful dismissal and unemployment benefits ".
Even in cases of occasional collaboration, the 5 Star Movement notes, "the cyclofattorini have minimum protections established by law. Furthermore, we have extended them the prevention rules provided for by the Consolidated Law on safety at work, guaranteed social security protections and prohibited arbitrary disconnection. . The next step is to reach the signing, by all the social partners, of a national collective bargaining agreement for the riders. As always, the 5 Star Movement is ready to do its part. That's why we are here. "