The collective agreement on riders is good news for Italy
Home delivery is one of the sectors that in a short time has had a big impact on our day-to-day life. That became evident during lockdown, when riders were among the few able to pass through our city streets to deliver food or, in Glovo’s case, pharmacy products, groceries, or simply gifts from one friend to another (or even newspapers in the last months). The sector’s growth has brought with it a series of questions around not only platforms, but also the institutions as well as the intermediate bodies. These questions are related to the classification of these ‘new’ workers, and aim to safeguard their autonomy, made possible by technology, without forgoing providing fundamental protection for any job, irrespective of whether it’s done for half an hour, for a month or for years. In the awareness that no growth, not even the most solid and dynamic, can be made without developing a set of rules that ensures certainty to companies and adequate protection for workers.
In Italy’s case, law 128/2019 was approved last November in response to this challenge, setting out the regulatory bases to reach, within a year, a possible collective agreement for the sector, which in compliance with the autonomy of those who choose to work as a rider, led delivery companies to guarantee better protection and rights. It is a risky legislative choice, due to the objective difficulty of representing the riders, but it is decidedly far-sighted in trusting industrial relations to carry out a crucial role in a sector so new and far from a traditional trade unions’ dialectic. AssoDelivery, the association bringing together Glovo, Deliveroo, Just Eat, Uber Eats and Social Food, did not hold back, and once it identified a shared platform between companies, it opened up to discussions with workers unions. UGL (General Labour Union) has built a representative structure for the world of riders that would give them their voice at the negotiating table, so that the debate is supported by their daily needs and not only by preconceptions that, where a new form of work arises, see traditional schemes as the only way to go. This is a first step — and certainly not an easy one — which has seen a value for all the players involved in the complexity of the gig economy, and not just a limit.
A collective agreement has emerged, undersigned by AssoDelivery and UGL, which is entirely new not only in Italy, but at the global level . The aim is to support the sustainable growth of a sector that, now amidst a health emergency, has shown itself to be essential and supportive to the economic activities that have been stricken by the difficulties of lockdown and social distancing. It includes answers to the questions that, for years, have been asked about the sector: from a minimum guaranteed compensation to extra earnings for collaborating at night, in bad weather, and during festivities , and to a system of temporary incentives in recently launched cities. The CCNL is once and for all addressing all aspects of couriers’ day-to-day lives by providing, on behalf of businesses, free safety devices such as high-visibility clothing and helmets for cyclists, as well as organising specific training courses on topics such as road safety and transporting food. It makes both insurance coverage and commitment from the company to respect basic principles obligatory. That includes non-discrimination and equal opportunities for collaborators, respect for privacy, and transparency for ranking systems. Lastly, it sets the bases for an authentic union life, because it is a space for discussion that this sector needs in order to face up to everyday matters, both big and small.
Delivery wasn’t the Wild West yesterday, nor will it be the Garden of Eden tomorrow, when the collective agreement will come into effect. Today isn’t the finishing line, it’s in fact the starting point. It is though one small, yet at the same time, massive victory for our country, that for once is able to dictate the line on a topic that is so relevant to the global economy, by identifying an alternative route that’s pragmatic and not ideological. One that’s capable of supporting a rapidly expanding market without forgoing to guarantee the undeniable protection of those who work in it.
What we’re celebrating today isn’t so much a milestone, rather the first example of a path of growth and maturity that delivery intends to, over time, undertake by not only being the protagonist in a vague and unpredictable future, but a responsible and active actor in the present.
