The contract of the food delivery app riders was declared illegitimate by a court
The Labor Tribunal of Bologna challenges Deliveroo to apply the Assodelivery-Ugl contract and to terminate the employment relationship with the delivery men who did not accept it
A Deliveroo rider (Photo: Matthew Horwood / Getty Images) After the disputes by the Ministry of Labor and the turnaround of Just Eat, the first sentence against the food delivery contract signed by the main apps in the sector with the right-wing union Ugl also arrives. A verdict that, in black and white, requires Deliveroo, one of the companies signing the contract, to "refrain from applying this agreement" to its riders. It is signed by the Labor Tribunal of Bologna, a city once again at the center of the claims of workers in the gig economy.The sentence
There are two points raised by the Labor judge of Bologna against Deliveroo, brought to court by Filcams, Nidil and Filt Cgil, represented by the lawyers Matilde Bidetti, Carlos de Marchis Gómez, Stefania Mangione, Alberto Piccinini and Sergio Vacirca. First: the contract is illegitimate because it is signed with a counterparty that cannot be considered representative. The Ugl union, in fact. According to the judge, Assodelivery, the association that brings together the most important food delivery apps (in addition to Deliveroo, there are Glovo, Uber Eats and Social Food), would have chosen a convenient interlocutor and not the one that best represents the workers of the sector, given the weight of its members (as required by law). A dispute already raised by the autonomous rider unions, by the confederal CGIL, CISL and UIL and by the Ministry of Labor itself after the signing of the agreement on 15 September 2020.The union representation of delivery boys has always been one of the reasons for the impasse at national tables to regulate food delivery. The apps did not recognize CGIL, CISL, UIL and autonomous as real spokespersons for the riders. On the contrary, they considered the Ugl adequate which, at the time of signing, declared a thousand members, mostly inherited from an autonomous acronym that has always been close to the requests of the platforms, the Anar. The judge, however, reiterated that the Ugl is "devoid of the requirement of greater comparative representativeness".
Second: as a result of the first point, the terminations of the employment relationship of those riders who did not want to accept the terms of the new agreement. Last November, the apps gave the ultimatum: anyone who does not sign the Assodelivery-Ugl contract is out. "Deliveroo's attempt to subordinate the continuation of the contract with the riders to the acceptance of the terms provided for by the national collective labor contract, ed.), Under penalty of termination of the relationship, clearly appears illegitimate. And consequently, the termination of relations for the refusal of membership appears equally illegitimate ”, writes the judge of Bologna. The court also disputes "illegitimate support, including financial support" from the UGL app and "discriminatory" corporate behavior.
A controversial contract
The sentence is yet another blow to the controversial app contract. First they spoke out against the trade unions. Then the ministry, overtaken on the right by Assodelivery, sent the companies a letter of objection against the minimum wage, guarantees and the choice of Ugl. Subsequently, one of the signatories, Just Eat, pulled back, choosing the path of subordination that the unions have been invoking for years and that the apps have always sent back to the sender. Finally, the sentence.For the autonomous citizen union, Riders Union Bologna, "the court recognizes what we have always maintained, namely that Ugl is not a representative trade union but that in the signing of the pirate agreement the parties have chosen for mutual convenience in order to illegally derogate from laws and contracts. Another important blow was dealt to the philosophy of piecework, exploitation and discrimination supported by the main delivery multinationals ”. “The decision - affirms the confederal secretary of the CGIL Tania Scacchetti - marks the end of the controversial agreement signed. Now the company has been forced to put an end to the piecework and to apply the economic conditions of the reference contract for the sector that for some time the CGIL has indicated in the goods and logistics ccnl, which contains a far better economic and regulatory treatment ”.
For Marco Lombardo, Councilor for Labor of the Municipality of Bologna and one of the promoters of the citizen's charter of the rights of digital workers, “Bologna continues to lead the way on the road to rider rights. Up to now we have always contested, together with the trade unions, Rider Union and the other signatory parties of the Bologna Charter, that the Ugl and Deliveroo contract was inappropriate, because it was signed for the sole purpose of derogating from the new national legislation and collective agreements. existing national ones. From today, after the pronouncement, we can say that, in addition to being politically inappropriate, it is legally illegitimate because the Court of Bologna recognized the discriminatory and anti-union nature of the withdrawal from the employment relationships of the riders who had declared themselves unwilling to join ".
The national table
It now remains to understand how the situation will evolve at the national level. The table wanted at the Ministry of Labor by the then Minister Luigi Di Maio is proceeding in tears and so far it has not concluded much, so much so that an agreement has been signed in parallel. In March, the current holder of the department, Andrea Orlando, signed a protocol for legality, against illegal hiring and exploitation with Assodelivery, CGIL, CISL and UIL. But the negotiation on the most delicate point still remains: that of bargaining and regulating the riders.Tech - 5 hours ago
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Topics
Food delivery Gig economy Italy Jobs globalData.fldTopic = "Food delivery, Gig economy , Italy, Work "
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