Digital corporatism: irregularities between contracts signed online and pay on delivery
Roberta Turi, national secretary of CGIL Nidil: 'In the immediate future it is necessary to strengthen the control system'
by Ivan Cimmarusti and Sara Monaci
"Today there are already regulations on the combating of child trafficking and on the collection and traceability of data that food delivery platforms are obliged to provide to the relevant bodies (e.g. Inail because there is an insurance obligation), so in the immediate term it is necessary to strengthen the control system. There will then be time to give us new regulatory tools also through the transposition of the European directive 2024/2831, concerning the improvement of working conditions through digital platforms, but which will have to be transposed by Italy only by December 2026'.
Thus Roberta Turi, national secretary of Nidil CGIL, who in this interview discusses the phenomenon of digital caporalato and the moves needed at this historic moment.
Shall we talk about digital caporalism?
We have just concluded our survey, having some 500 questionnaires filled in by rider, both Italians and foreigners. What emerges is a world of widespread lawlessness, in which both the state and the carabinieri are doing their utmost to try to repress this type of behaviour, but there are huge criticalities that make their work very complicated.
Can you give an example?
There is a big responsibility of the platforms that have no control over the legality and protection of people. Then also the work of the inspectors is very complicated: verifying that an account registered on a platform has been passed on to others is not easy. We need documentation and testimonies, which are often lacking. The problem is also the threats that many riders suffer from corporals: we have many reports of this behaviour. Then there is another aspect that encourages this type of illegality: the fact that there is no presidium of delivery platforms on the ground. So everything the rider declares is a self-certification that is not properly verified and checked. In the end, one never knows who is really on the other side.
What is the condition of the riders today?
The best known platform that has long since chosen to frame these workers as subordinates is Just Eat, which therefore pays regardless of the number of deliveries. They represent the smallest part of the entire pool of riders: about 2,600 throughout Italy.
