In a country that had one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe even before the virus hit, piecework has become one of the few viable options for making a living in Italy’s economy. post-Covid. As more and more unemployed Italians are forced to join the gig economy, delivery men compete with an even greater number of co-workers – or rivals, depending on how you look at it – for orders. large online delivery platforms.
In Italy there have been several attempts to regulate the sector. In February, a Milan court sentenced food delivery platforms Foodinho (Glovo), Uber Eats Italy, Just Eat Italy and Deliveroo Italy to a fine of 733 million euros for violating the safety laws of the use. The court also ruled that the 60,000 couriers who have worked for the platform over the past four years should have been hired as quasi-employees.
Fast forward 10 months and not much has changed. Among the larger platforms, only Just Eat has started hiring workers on a permanent basis.
Groups of workers organize
Most delivery people in Italy continue to work as if they were independent contractors, earning pocket money (as little as 3 euros net per delivery) based on the number of deliveries they make in an hour and the number of deliveries they make in an hour. the distance they travel to deliver them.
Other parameters may come into play, but workers do not have full visibility. “The algorithms are not completely transparent. In 2018, we had a meeting with the local representative of a large platform, and he told us that he did not know exactly how the system worked, ”says Francesca Martinelli, director of the think tank Fondazione Centro Studi, based in Verona.
Low wages are just one of the issues surrounding the work of teams, not only in Italy, but around the world. From Switzerland to Colombia, and from Germany to South Korea, delivery people are often poorly paid, have unpredictable schedules and suffer from a lack of transparency and trust in their relationship with their employer.
Tired of waiting for a change, some Italian workers are getting organized. Like similar experiences in Spain and France, workers are launching businesses that make local deliveries, in a single city, or even in a specific neighborhood, and treat runners like employees, offering them contracts. for an indefinite period, pension contributions and other benefits.
These include cooperatives and limited liability companies such as Robin Food in Florence, So.De in Milan, Consegne Etiche in Bologna, Food4Me in Verona, Takeve in Rome. Robin Food, the most recent of the lot, was launched as a cooperative on November 10, 2021. Its seven founding runners earn a fixed amount of 8 euros per hour, whether they deliver or not, and regardless of the quantity.
More niche and engaged platforms
But can these small businesses impose themselves and offer an alternative to disastrous working conditions? Evelyn Pereira, originally from Peru, founded Takeve in Rome as a limited liability company, with a 100% female team. The start-up launched operations last October, delivering food, beauty and personal care products, toys and other merchandise. The focus on gender arose out of two considerations: female jobs have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and the gender gap in the delivery sector means that the vast majority of delivery people are men. Salaries vary by team, but the company says it offers a base salary of $ 800 per month for a full-time contract.
Takeve’s women’s empowerment angle fits perfectly with a broader goal of equity, inclusion and sustainability, shared by most of these niche delivery startups. “They aim to re-establish social links in the neighborhoods, to provide training for workers and to fight against exploitation and bad practices”, explains Francesca Martinelli.
This is the case with So.De (short for social delivery), a start-up that launched in Milan in early December. “We hired two couriers with social worker contracts. They work across town and are meant to become a point of reference for residents. We provide them with bicycles, helmets and clothing, and we also train them on how to communicate and behave with citizens, ”one of the start-up’s co-founders, Teresa De Martin, told ZDNet.
Private-public partnerships
The funds to launch So.De were raised in part thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign, supported by the municipality.
A private-public collaboration including the municipality, two local cooperatives and the Foundation for Urban Innovations was also decisive for the launch of Consegne Etiche in October 2020, a delivery service for books and groceries in Bologna. The delivery men earn a net salary of 9 euros per hour and are hired by the cooperatives with a permanent contract.
All these start-ups are still very small and cannot compete in terms of scale with the big behemoths. And they don’t want it either. “Cooperatives can never completely replace large platforms, but rather complement them. They must keep a small staff so that everyone can have a stable income. And they generally prefer a B to B approach, which is safer than directly targeting consumers, ”explains Francesca Martinelli.
What these fledgling companies are showing, however, is that a different model is possible. Delivery people don’t necessarily have to be subject to the vagaries of opaque algorithms. Humans can still have some autonomy and be their own leaders.
Source: ZDNet.com