Delivery companies unveil labor deal with Italian far-right union

The deal could allow the likes of Uber Eats and Deliveroo to avoid additional regulation.

Press play to listen to this article

Click Here: Fjallraven Kanken Art Spring Landscape Backpacks

Voiced by Amazon Polly

A coalition of food-delivery companies on Wednesday unveiled a deal with a far-right-affiliated Italian union, pushing through their version of employee protection for gig workers as an alternative to classifying them as employees.

The companies, which include Uber, Deliveroo, Glovo, JustEat and others, believe their approach to labor relations — not directly employing delivery workers but providing them with a minimum wage and bonuses — will help avoid a 2019 law that could force them to grant more rights and benefits to delivery workers than they would like.

“This is an important step forward which shows that it is possible to increase the security of self-employed workers in the EU,” said Matteo Sarzana, the general manager of Deliveroo Italy and the president of Assodelivery, a lobby group representing delivery companies.

The agreement, seen by POLITICO, was signed between the coalition, named Assodelivery, and the General Union of Labor (UGL), which the companies hailed as the first between a union and the food delivery industry.

The agreement pushes for what Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi described as a “third way” for workers, whereby workers are classified as self-employed, but are provided with benefits like an hourly wage. 

“It validates flexible work, which is a key element, and what [delivery workers] are looking for. Secondly, it gives them more social rights, which companies like ourselves are willing to pay for,” Glovo Co-founder Sacha Michaud said in an interview. 

A spokesperson for Uber called the deal “an important step forward for the industry.”

The agreement comes during the coronavirus pandemic, which exposed gig workers to high health risks and prompted lawmakers to call for stronger protections for precarious employment. 

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who leads the ruling 5Star Movement party, prioritized the working conditions of food delivery workers when he was labor minister.

As a result, last year the government adopted a law that gives riders basic protections including sick leave and social security while still categorizing them as autonomous workers. Under the law, delivery companies have 12 months (which would end in November), to agree on a contract with workers’ representatives. If there’s no agreement, the labor ministry would step in to set further conditions including an hourly wage.

The delivery companies hope their agreement with UGL — a right-leaning organization whose chief backed a far-right grouping in last year’s European Parliament election — will preclude the government from stepping in.

The agreement would grant workers a minimum €10 gross hourly wage, bonuses for working at night and in bad weather conditions, safety equipment and insurance for damages. The platforms also pledge to keep their ranking systems transparent, and to not punish couriers for not accepting jobs. 

Who speaks for workers? 

Italy’s other unions and critics think the companies are sidestepping their obligations.

“This is going to be the first collective agreement that deprives workers of rights,” said Valerio De Stefano, a professor of labor law at the University of Leuven. 

De Stefano called it a “pirate” agreement, as it has been done with a smaller union which is not representative enough. “This doesn’t bring legal certainty. If [Assodelivery] want it, they should negotiate with representative unions,” De Stefano said.

UGL’s status as a representative union could decide if the agreement is legitimate. The law says “the comparatively most representative trade unions and employers organizations” can reach an agreement. While delivery companies believe UGL qualifies, the other unions don’t.

UGL is not one of Italy’s three big unions: the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Italian Confederation of Workers’ Trade Unions (CISL) and Italian Union of Labour (UIL). None of the three have an agreement with delivery companies (though Di Maio tried and failed to broker one between CGIL, the largest, and Assodelivery).

UGL says it has 2 million members, but it is unclear how many are food delivery workers. The union did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.

The union also has far-right affiliations that further isolate it from other unions and labor activists. UGL’s predecessor CISNAL was close to Italy’s neofascist Italian Social Movement.

Today UGL has close ties to the far-right League party. Its former Deputy Secretary-General, Claudio Durigon, was a former deputy labor minister and member of the League, while its current Secretary-General, Paolo Capone, supported the party, which belongs to the far-right Identity and Democracy European Parliament group, in last year’s EU elections, pushing to strip Brussels of its competences. 

The companies are not fazed by UGL’s politics.

“I hope the facts are there. So at the end of the day, it can be right or left. But what we’ve agreed is a good starting point,” said Glovo’s Michaud. He added that UGL has been actively engaging with riders throughout the negotiations.

Whose agreement?

CGIL maintains that riders should be treated as employees and refuses to negotiate any collective agreement that doesn’t have that provision. “For us a rider is an employee. He has all the characteristic features of an employee, not the characteristics of the autonomous worker,” said Danilo Morini, of CGIL’s national transport and logistics branch. Morini lists as an example the fact that workers can’t choose where to be based or make decisions about work.

CGIL negotiated its own agreement with companies. The union has drafted a national contract for riders, including them under the category of transport workers, which gives more rights than if they remain classified as independent. It has been signed by 21 employers’ associations including Confindustria — Italy’s largest business lobby — but not by Assodelivery. 

Italy’s top court referred to this contract in January, when it ruled that five riders from platform Foodora — which has now left Italy — are entitled to working conditions of employed workers. 

“You cannot have agreements that undercut court decisions that say these are employees,” said Esther Lynch, the deputy general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, an umbrella group for European unions, which counts CGIL, CISL and UIL — but not UGL — as its members. 

Glovo’s Michaud said that UGL was the most “proactive” when it came to approaching platforms, and the group invites all trade unions to the negotiating table.

“I hope that this [agreement] can be a reference … and hopefully implemented in other regions or EU member states who are actually looking to regulate,” Michaud said.

De Stefano, the labor law professor, expects the agreement to be litigated in court.

“I am very skeptical this will be the last we will hear of it,” he said.

Want more analysis from POLITICO? POLITICO Pro is our premium intelligence service for professionals. From financial services to trade, technology, cybersecurity and more, Pro delivers real time intelligence, deep insight and breaking scoops you need to keep one step ahead. Email [email protected] to request a complimentary trial.