INTRODUCTION TO THE LIVING TARIFF TOOL
Yesterday, on November 30, 2023, a panel of experts discussed the potential of the Living Tariff tool that WageIndicator has developed in partnership with GIZ, the German Development Cooperation.
For WageIndicator, the co-founder and Global Head of the Living Wage team, Paulien Osse, presented the Foundation’s commitment to working on a tool for gig workers based on ten years of experience in living wages.
Kirsten Schuettler, Head of the Global Gig Economy Initiative at GIZ, made opening remarks and underlined how a living tariff is crucial in the gig economy context, where hidden costs and unpaid waiting times still weigh workers’ backs.
Schuettler said, “workers can use the tool to better calculate and understand what they're making on the platforms they work on and how much they would need to earn.”
The Living Tariff tool is being introduced for Pakistan, Kenya, and Indonesia. Experts from these countries, Iftikhar Ahmad, Anne Gichuku, and Nadia Pralitasari, moderated by Martijn Arets, shared insights on the tool development, how it could affect those countries where the gig economy is proliferating against the standard labour market, and why such a tool still needs to be adopted and secured within regulation.
Pooja Gianchandani, Advisor on Gig Economy at GIZ, remarked in the conclusions, “the living tariff tool is not just a practical tool for workers and their allies, but it is also a powerful tool for ensuring agile regulation. In many countries, workers face unique barriers and find it hard to unionize. So this is a first step to a longer journey.”
If you missed the webinar or want to learn more, check the page event, and feel free to contact us anytime.
Write to Paulien Osse (paulienosse@wageindicator.org
WHAT’S NEW ON GIGPEDIA
Glovo riders do not all get employment contracts but are covered by the Couriers Pledge in 21 countries. The company promises delivery workers safety, community, equality, and a fair income. How does it work?
Yes, We Do Resist: The Story of Women Worker’s Struggles and Resistance at Urban Company
Urban Company has a large share of women workers who are resisting the platform's unfair practices. WhatsApp groups emerged as an important instrument for struggling.
“Where the courts fail, our collective action will prevail.” This is how the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain commented on the Supreme Court's decision to confirm the self-employment status of Deliveroo riders under Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The ruling is clear: riders can be substituted anytime since Deliveroo does not require them to provide delivery services personally. According to the court, the obligation to provide personal service is essential to an employment relationship, and that’s not the case.
Moreover, a series of conditions “fundamentally inconsistent with any notion of an employment relationship” is listed: “Riders do not work within specific working hours. They operate if and when they choose. Their activity is not of a particular duration, nor does it have a certain continuity. Riders start and stop when they choose.”
More than this, “their place of work is not specified or agreed upon.” As regards tools, materials, and machinery, “all equipment is at their expense. Riders use their own cycles and mobile phones.”
Then, the court considered pay procedures: “There is no periodic payment. Remuneration depends on whether riders choose to make deliveries and how many they make. Deliveries are not necessarily or typically their sole or principal source of income. Riders are thus free to reject work offers, make themselves unavailable, and undertake work for competitors.”
Therefore, even though “nothing in the UK legislation stops the riders from forming their own union or joining other unions as they have done”, Deliveroo cannot be legally compelled to engage with a union representing its riders for collective bargaining.
Reactions were not long in coming.
The IWGB is considering taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Platform expert Martijn Arets points out, "In many countries, the substitute option is an argument for the classification as a freelancer. This makes sense with some gig platforms, but with food delivery, it is nonsense. The only case when substitution makes sense in delivery is when you subrent your account to somebody who is not allowed to work in the country due to not having the right papers. This is not entrepreneurship, but exploitation.”
Arets also recalls the verdict pronounced in the Netherlands on the Deliveroo case: in March 2023, the Supreme Court recognized that the relationship between Deliveroo and its riders was regulated through employment contracts since the practical importance of the substitution option for the riders was minor.
Many agreed that the substitution clause, which proved to be fatal to the British court’s ruling, makes it easier for Deliveroo accounts to be rented, primarily to undocumented migrants, but also to underaged teenagers, as a BBC investigation had revealed in the days before the ruling. The government itself had urged food delivery firms to end the practice of unchecked account sharing and implement stricter controls and remarked that “the substitution business model is enabling illegal working, allowing exploitation and putting the British public at risk.”
Next to that, reports show that the sector’s rider substitute system is being misused by some account holders, putting vulnerable workers at risk of harm and abuse.
Callum Cant, a sociologist of work who rode for Deliveroo in 2017, explained how the substitution clause “exploits a loophole in employment law and is the reason why Deliveroo workers have been classified as self-employed while Uber’s drivers are now legally workers after a 2021 Supreme Court decision. In Deliveroo’s case, the courts accept that the substitution clause is rarely used and may well have been introduced specifically to prevent the reclassification of riders as workers.”
Ruwan Subasinghe, Legal Director of the International Transport Workers' Federation, pointed out that “the concept of 'personal work' cannot be trumped solely by a substitution clause”, and many underlined the need to expand unionisation and collective bargaining beyond typical employment.
It is also interesting to note how the Supreme Court’s ruling puts the United Kingdom at odds with the majority of courts in Europe. Over the years, Spanish courts have sided with the workers most often, recognizing that there is an employment relationship between delivery platforms and riders.
The same trend can be noted in the Dutch courts’ rulings. Apart from a decision dated 2018, all judgments in subsequent years have always been pronounced in favour of the workers (Helpling is still a case apart).
While writing this issue, on November 24, 2023, the Supreme Court confirmed that the Dutch sectoral collective agreement for logistics applies to Deliveroo riders. A winding path started in 2019, with the first ruling in the case between the FNV union and the platform, and continued in 2021, has finally come to an end.
Does it mean that there is room for optimism?
Well, Deliveroo, which has no longer been active in the Netherlands since November 2022, will be forced to pay pension contributions retroactively, and the trade union FNV, which is involved in the legal battle, believes it is ruling with far-reaching consequences. According to FNV director Anja Dijkma, “Deliveroo may have left the Netherlands, but this ruling also applies to other companies, such as Uber Eats, who think they can pump up their profits on the backs of the delivery people.”
On the other hand, when Deliveroo left the country, many delivery workers signed the FNV and CNV social plan, renouncing claims in the future. “When a rider signs, they also agree on not suing the company,” Martijn Arets said. Besides that, the social plan does not seem to apply to pension funds: “I wonder whether other parties will also want to collect money, such as employee insurance and unemployment contributions, which workers have not been able to use. When after-taxes are discussed, the big question will be which definition of working time will be used.”
As we often emphasise, things are constantly changing and more complicated than they seem.
Another example that comes to mind is the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn another court’s ruling and state that Rappi riders are not employees.
In a press release, Rappi stated that the sector is moving towards having a new legal framework for the "new way of working" proposed by digital platforms. To comment on this hypothetical category of worker, placed between employment and self-employment, Veena Dubal and Renan Kalil expressed little enthusiasm despite the government propaganda. It would rely on a substandard set of laws for their workforce centered around the myths about what drivers want - independence and flexibility - but still limiting social protections and worker pay.
But this is another story; we will return to this in future newsletters.
Have a nice day,
The WageIndicator Gig Team
Canada - The Province of British Columbia plans to bring regulations ensuring better wages, working conditions, and protections for ride-hailing and food-delivery workers. If the regulation comes into force, the app platforms would be required to pay into the workers’ compensation fund.
India - Zomato and Swiggy, the top two food delivery platforms in the country, are reportedly being investigated by tax authorities.
Italy - Another takeover made news in Italy: Mymenu, a local platform shutting down its activities, has finalised an agreement with Just Eat to ease the workers' transition from one company to the other. Mymenu never deployed the employment model, though Just Eat treats riders as employees.
Portugal - The Public Security Police and the National Republican Guard inspected about 1,500 drivers working for individual passenger transport platforms in unmarked vehicles, reporting infractions like a lack of written employment contracts, disregard for rest periods, and cases in which the driver was operating without a license.
Spain & Germany - The European Commission antitrust regulators raided the Delivery Hero and Glovo offices in Barcelona and Berlin as they expanded their investigation into suspicions of anti-trust infringements.
Belgium - La Maison des Livreurs and MOC Bruxelles appeared at the employment tribunal on appeal regarding the Deliveroo case. In 2021, the Brussels Labour Court concluded that couriers should be considered self-employed, not employees. The final ruling will be pronounced by the end of the year.
Colombia - Digital platforms workers in Barranquilla met to gather suggestions and demands for labour reform.
Finland - Wolt food couriers have complained that their earnings have dropped after the delivery company changed its compensation policy.
France
- Around forty delivery drivers from Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat went on strike in Colmar to ask for their bonuses back.
- Livreurs CGT called for a strike on December 2 and 3 to ask for the implementation of a transparent pay calculation, remunerated waiting times, and social contributions.
Hong Kong - Taxi trade leaders have called off a 1,000-driver strike after the government promised to crack down on illegal ride-hailing services.
India
Faced with little job security or health coverage, Telangana gig workers have placed a set of demands for political parties ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.
Amazon workers in Mumbai protested for a minimum wage of 25,000 rupees, abolition of targets, seating arrangements, and other benefits.
US
Delivery workers and supporters gathered in New York City to call out app companies for appealing the 20-dollar minimum wage approved by the Council. In September 2023, a judge said New York City regulators could raise minimum wages for app-based food delivery workers starting in October and increase that by 2025.
Los Deliveristas Unidos took the streets to denounce the remarkable amount of victims of traffic violence in 2023 and called for safer streets.
Italy - The selection system of Foodihno (Glovo) has been found to be discriminatory. The labour section of the Court of Palermo recognized that couriers "who make more deliveries and work consistently during dinner hours or on weekends" have "the advantage of being able to choose, with precedence over others, when to carry out subsequent performances."
Argentina - Deputies and senators of the Legislature of Catamarca met representatives of taxi drivers to discuss the bill that aims to prohibit Uber or similar applications from being authorised in the province. Legislators will deal with the draft in the next session.
India - As air quality worsens in Delhi, the AAP government banned entry of non-Delhi registered commercial cabs booked through Ola, Uber, and other taxi aggregator apps into the national capital.
Japan - If the ban on private-car ride-hailing is lifted, Uber is open to fully participating in the local market. At the moment, Uber only offers a food delivery service
Argentina - Cabify is planning to disembark in Bariloche and has launched a call to recruit drivers. In the meantime, the draft ordinance to regulate platforms was stuck in the Municipal Council.
Did you know? Meituan is exploring a potential acquisition of Delivery Hero's business in Southeast Asia.
Kenya - The National Transport and Safety Authority of Kenya has officially renewed the ride-hailing platform Bolt Kenya’s operating licence, after denying it due to issues with the booking fee exceeding the legal 18% commission limit. This comes after Bolt proactively suspended its controversial 5% booking fee charges.
India
Ola Electric is likely to deploy its electric scooters for deliveries across product categories on the government's ONDC platform.
Uber has proposed to invest 100 million dollars by 2025 in West Bengal for the bus shuttle service, which will create nearly 50,000 employment opportunities in Kolkata in the upcoming five years.
Latvia - Wolt has rapidly expanded its operations outside Riga and now offers its services in 13 cities, the most significant number among the Baltic countries.
Did you know? Uber is experimenting with a new service called Uber Tasks, which allows users to hire drivers from its app to complete everyday household chores and projects in a bid to expand beyond its existing ride-hailing and courier business.