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News > Spain

Spain Turns Digital Platform Delivery Drivers Into Employees

  • Delivery drivers wait to pick up products from a bookstore, Barcelona, Spain, April 23, 2021.

    Delivery drivers wait to pick up products from a bookstore, Barcelona, Spain, April 23, 2021. | Photo: EFE

Published 11 May 2021
Opinion

A new regulation seeks to favor delivery workers by regularizing wages, working hours, unionization, and social protection.

Spain's government on Tuesday approved a rule that regularizes labor relations of some 30,000 delivery drivers working for digital platforms such as Deliveroo, Glovo, or Ubereats.

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"For the first time, the world is looking at Spain because of this regulation," Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz said, stressing that the norm "is going to change the sign of the times."

This new regulation, which was agreed with the country's main unions and employers, seeks to favor delivery drivers by regularizing wages, working hours, unionization, and social protection.

To that effect, the new provision details that companies must inform their workers about how artificial intelligence systems and algorithms could affect decision-making, working conditions, or profiling.

"We don't want bosses who yell at us or mobile devices that penalize us," the minister said and stressed that algorithms will condition the future of thousands of workers.

The possibility of having a fixed salary, however, is rejected by some delivery workers who prefer not to be dependent on a company to be able to work longer hours and for several platforms simultaneously. These workers protested against the new regulations in Madrid and Barcelona.

The organization "Riders for Rights" considers that the new regulation has worrisome holes, does not guarantee work for current delivery drivers, and leaves the door open to subcontracting.

"The rule has also not imposed penalties on companies and forgets the undocumented migrants who work renting riders' accounts," outlet Genbeta recalled.

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