Riders on the streets, '10 hours a day for 2-4 euro per delivery'
The riders took to the streets on Saturday 14 March in more than 30 squares on the national mobilisation day promoted by the CGIL and, with their voices or through the union, denounced daily exploitation. Shifts from 7 up to 10 hours a day, for 6 even 7 days a week and compensation ranging between 2 and 4 euros per delivery
Key points
'Rights for riders': a placard for a decent wage, protections and safety. The riders took to the streets on Saturday 14 March in more than 30 squares on the national mobilisation day promoted by the CGIL and, with their voices or through the union, denounced daily exploitation. Shifts of 7 up to 10 hours a day, for 6 even 7 days a week, and wages of between 2 and 4 euros per delivery. Not to mention that for the majority of the cycle-packengers, mostly foreigners but also Italians, food delivery is the main source of income. These are 'extreme' working conditions, said the confederal secretary of the CGIL, Francesca Re David, from the garrison in Rome. And wages 'are below the threshold of dignity'.
The Glovo and Deliveroo riders' protest
The riders of Glovo and Deliveroo, the two food delivery giants at the centre of the investigation by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, which has ordered a judicial review for alleged 'caporalato' (forced labour), took to the streets. They represent thousands of workers who demand 'work to live not to survive', as one can read on the placards displayed. In one day I do even 30 or 40 kilometres and in the end I bring home about 20 euros,' one of them from Taranto said. Many call themselves 'victims of artificial intelligence'.
"It's a war between the poor"
'Alongside Pakistani and Afghan workers,' highlighted the Ionian CGIL with the Nidil and Filt categories, 'there are Italian riders. Often over 50 years old that the manufacturing crisis is forcing them to make ends meet by riding their bikes or mopeds even in the rain or scorching heat. It is a war between the poor'.
The push for a national contract
These data, for the CGIL, confirm the urgency of the application of the national freight and logistics contract and the recognition of holidays, sickness, paid accidents, thirteenth month, fourteenth month, and severance pay, as well as greater guarantees on health and safety. A contract, explained the national secretary of Nidil, Roberta Turi from the presidium in Naples, 'that provides, between mileage reimbursement, night work, Sunday work and seniority increases, a salary of more than two thousand euros per month'. 'Now we expect,' said Re David, 'that the intervention of the Procura di Milano will lead the food delivery companies to sit around a table to finally recognise the national contract and their rights to the cycle-packengers. No more exploitation'. An opportunity - the union relaunched - to transform the phase opened by the judicial investigation into a concrete change.
