Spanish justice condemned the e-commerce giant Amazon for having made 2,166 delivery people work as freelancers who used their own vehicle for deliveries, when it should have paid them a salary (AFP/Archives/SEBASTIEN BOZON)
Spanish justice condemned the e-commerce giant Amazon for having made 2,166 delivery people work as freelancers who used their own vehicle for deliveries, when it should have paid them, according to a decision consulted Friday by AFP .
In this judgment delivered Thursday, a Madrid court specializing in social affairs found that these workers were “false self-employed”, who should have been linked via an employment contract to the American platform.
It therefore condemned the e-commerce giant to regularize the situation of these 2,166 people by paying their social security contributions.
The judgment does not specify the cost of this measure. But according to the UGT union, which initiated the legal proceedings against Amazon, it should be “several million” euros.
“This is Amazon’s first conviction for its Amazon Flex model, under which delivery people were forced to work with their own vehicle to deliver packages using a company app,” the union said. in a press release.
This decision is “a new step forward” for the respect of the “rights of workers providing services via digital platforms”, welcomed the UGT, denouncing “the situations of exploitation” which “unfortunately occur frequently” in this sector.
Contacted by AFP, the American giant said “respect the court decision”, while emphasizing its disagreement with the court’s analysis. “We are going to file an appeal,” the group said in a message sent to AFP.
“We have been working with a vast network of delivery companies for years”, including “large groups”, added Amazon, for whom the collaborators of the “Amazon Flex” program only delivered “a small percentage of parcels delivered to Spain”.
This program, supposed to be reserved for occasional deliverers, most often individuals wishing to make ends meet, was deployed in Spain between 2018 and 2021. It no longer exists in this country “since April 2021”, specifies Amazon.
Chance of the calendar, the decision of the Spanish justice fell the day when the European deputies approved a common position to strengthen the rights of the workers of the digital platforms like Uber or Deliveroo.
This text, which must now be negotiated with the Member States, proposes to set identical rules at EU level to determine whether meal deliverers or VTC drivers working for large platforms must be requalified as employees.
© 2023 AFP
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