PL | EN

A trial of Uber Eats in Italy

There is a trial ongoing of Uber Eats in Italy over alleged exploitation of migrants and asylum seekers. On May 29, a Milan court placed the Italian branch of the food delivery platform on the temporary suspension of payments for allegedly exploiting their riders, many of whom are migrants. Milan prosecutors on October 12 closed the investigation, with ten people under investigation, including the manager.

The prosecutors found that riders, some of them living in migrants reception centres, were paid just ‘three euros per delivery’, were robbed of their tips and punished when made mistakes. Most of them are migrants from Bangladesh, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Mali and Pakistan.

Similar abuses have been reported in other countries. A year ago, the New York Times reported how delivery companies exploited “desperate migrants” in France, paying them 3.50 euros per order. The article included the story of a teenager who had lived in an abandoned car after arriving from Tunisia. He earned 17 euros for four hours of delivering food during the day he spoke to the journalist.

Amidst the pandemic, as food delivery is booming and riders face exposure to the virus, in Brazil, Uber workers protested against their conditions. In Spain, the General Union of Workers (UGT) has recently released a report warning the “situation of slavery suffered by migrant workers” riding for these delivery platforms.

More about: Migration
Read also
Hybrid work, pay raises and the AI revolution in the labor market
Hybrid work, pay raises and the AI revolution in the labor market
According to the results of a yet unreviewed experiment at Trip.com, those employed in a hybrid work model were happier and less likely to leave the company than those who worked only in the office, and the overall productivity of both groups was the same. Meanwhile, a series of studies, for example, on call centre […]
Egypt, Cuba and Argentina’s fight against the economic crisis
Egypt, Cuba and Argentina’s fight against the economic crisis
In response to inflation and the decline in the purchasing power of the Egyptian pound in relation to the dollar, the inhabitants of Egypt are looking for a safe place to invest their assets, so they trade in gold, real estate and cars. The Egyptian authorities increased the aid agreement with the International Monetary Fund […]
India, China and Pakistan: rivalry for the Maldives and Kashmir
India, China and Pakistan: rivalry for the Maldives and Kashmir
India and China compete for the small but strategically important Maldives, offering infrastructure investments and financial resources. China needs a military presence in the Arabian Sea to secure access to oil from the Persian Gulf. India considers the Maldives as its sphere of influence in the Indian Ocean and wants to ensure that the Maldives […]
Asian economies: Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore
Asian economies: Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore
The Indonesian and Thai authorities intend to distribute cash and food worth USD 43 billion to their citizens, which loans will primarily finance. In Thailand, each adult citizen will receive almost USD 280, which should stimulate consumer spending. The total cost of the program will be USD 14 billion. In Indonesia, the country’s likely future […]
Women’s rights: France and positive changes in the USA
Women’s rights: France and positive changes in the USA
After France became the only country to guarantee the right to abortion in its constitution explicitly, other European countries are examining their abortion laws. In Italy, a 1978 law allows medical personnel to refuse to perform an abortion on moral grounds, which in practice often significantly limits access to the procedure and forces women to […]
Previous issues