The call for a strike was launched by Union-Indépendants, the CGT Transports and SUD-Commerces federations to demand better pay. Gatherings of striking Uber Eats delivery drivers are planned for Saturday December 2 and Sunday December 3, among others in Paris, Bordeaux, Nice, Strasbourg, Lyon, Toulouse, Marseille and Armentières, after a change in the algorithm group they consider disadvantageous.
Despite the cold, there were a few dozen of them who gathered on Place Stalingrad in Paris, union vests on their backs and some with bicycles in their hands. Since October 10, a new system has been implemented by Uber Eats in the urban areas of Lille, Rouen and Valence, to “value the time spent completing the race”justified the platform.
Previous movements in November
Generalized since 1er November, this new pricing “may vary certain races upwards and others downwards, but is not intended to reduce the average remuneration per race”assured Uber Eats on Friday, which said it had even noted “a slight increase in average revenue per ride of 1.4%” in the pilot cities.
Delivery men speak of another reality: “I noticed that rides of 1 or 2 kilometers are paid 2.85 euros on Uber, whereas before they were 3.30 euros”said Adrien, a 37-year-old deliveryman interviewed by Agence France-Presse, who has worked for Uber since 2020 and recently, also, for Deliveroo.
“With inflation, salaries are increasing everywhere, we are the only ones to see our remuneration fall. What will the next step be? 0.50 euros per trip? Have to pay to deliver? »protests the one who has the impression of being there ” adjustment variable “ of the system. Protest movements by independent delivery drivers, some 65,000 of whom use Uber Eats in France, had already taken place in November.
“Let’s strive for the 21st century”
In Bordeaux, around twenty delivery men, accompanied by around ten CGT activists and NPA spokesperson Philippe Poutou, gathered at Place de la Victoire at the end of the morning to demand an improvement in their remuneration and their working conditions.
According to MP Danielle Simonnet (La France insoumise), present at the Parisian rally, the platforms are brandishing their promise to pay an hourly minimum of 11.75 euros for “lower the price of groceries” for delivery people, these “let’s strive for the 21ste century “. “It’s 11.75 euros per actual hour of travel”, not counting the waiting time. SO “you accumulate races for an hour so that they are paid in total at 11.75 euros, this means that you significantly reduce the price of each individual race”.
“It creates a situation of modern slavery”according to David Belliard, elected to the Town Hall of Paris, a city where “meal deliveries have exploded in recent years”. Mr. Belliard asks these platforms, which “exploit these people”, to reclassify their contracts as salaried. He regrets that this remuneration system pushes delivery people “to obviously take reckless risks for themselves and those around them”.