“Those three lousy ones must be blocked or at least heard and punished with 50% of the hours, otherwise the problem will remain”. “In the meantime, punish them and on Monday we will make a decision.” And again: “Listen to the customer, the McDonald’s in Ostia complains a lot, he says they stink too much, that they are unpresentable, they describe the courier as a smelly homeless man. But every time he complains it’s a national tragedy so we have to offer him the best. possible service “. And the answer: “They are black and have different smells than ours.”
Uber Italy, trial for illegal hiring with executive involved: 21 riders admitted as civil parties. “We want to be normal workers”
This was the tone of the “Friends of Uber” chat in which the work of the riders who delivered ready meals with the green backpacks of Uber Eats was organized. A job that the multinational did not deal directly with the bicycle messengers but through the intermediation of a company that – unlike other giants of home delivery of dishes – also earned him a challenge for gang-ganging the subject of a criminal trial in Milan .
Today in Turin, the case before the labor court of ten messengers started to recognize the irregular intermediation, or a form of hiring, of the Flash Road City and Frc companies, which managed the workers on behalf of Uber Italy. The judge acknowledged that in fact the real employer was Uber and consequently recognized the existence of an employment relationship, with compensation for the difference in pay between the low pay they took for a ride – 3 euros – and the salary with contributions and social security that they would have had if they had been hired with a regular trade contract as required by law.
Caporalato among the Uber Eats riders: accusations also in Turin
by FEDERICA CRAVERO
The riders, assisted by lawyers Giulia Druette and Sergio Bonetto, had also requested compensation for the violation of privacy caused by the use of the app for the management of deliveries and for the lack of security measures, but this was not recognized by the judge.
“Today’s decision concerns a past and very specific situation, which involves a delivery company with which we no longer work – Uber Eats announces – In the last year we have revised and strengthened our processes, introducing a series of changes to provide couriers a safe, rewarding and flexible working environment. We are waiting to receive the reasons for the sentence, after which we will evaluate the opportunity to appeal “.
In the discussion of the civil trial in Turin, numerous elements drawn from the criminal investigation in Milan have converged, where there are also dozens of riders from Turin who have filed a civil action. At the moment the trial in Lombardy has seen a first phase close with three plea agreements and an abbreviated sentence of the members of the companies that brokered the workers and the multinational in different cities, while the manager of Uber Italy, Gloria Bresciani, who was sent to trial and chose to face the trial.
The names of the accused are the ones that recur in the conversations recalled today in the final discussion of the case before Judge Lorenzo Audisio. In particular, the messages reveal what was the operating mode in which the workers were managed who, on the one hand, had to be given the freedom to make deliveries when and for how long they wanted (as if they were self-employed workers) while in fact they had to be organized according to the wishes or needs of the company.
And Uber complained to the “corporals”: “You had 12 couriers for lunch and now that lunch is over they are 17. I can’t stay all afternoon taking yours offline. It’s up to you not to pay those who don’t. they have to be connected and consequently I will only pay you for the ones I ask for. ” And again: “Couriers that connect when not needed are a waste of money – this is Uber’s suggestion – In my opinion if you don’t pay them in the afternoon and they have to connect in the evening to eat, you’ll see that they connect. Obviously if you you give them the choice they don’t care and take the money when it suits them “.
A rider had been kicked out when he got lost outside the area and didn’t make a delivery: “If he does it on purpose I’ll kick him out, if he doesn’t do it on purpose it’s even worse”. Then there was a local who complained about the riders who, while waiting for deliveries, stopped in an “indecorous” way outside the door and to solve the problem the app was programmed to eject the bellboys stopped nearby.
Under those conditions, many riders were leaving. Hence the constant need to find new workers. “We are opening new promos, we must be sure we have couriers,” says Bresciani. And one of the intermediaries replies: “We will visit some communities where these guys stay”.
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