A flood of demands from riders over Glovo's new 100% labor model

BarcelonaIn some from the videos on your Instagram profile He appears in front of a false background of green fields with a path leading up a hill. In others, he is seen sitting in his office with diplomas hanging on the walls while answering questions live. His name is Francisco Valverde García and he is a lawyer from Barcelona who has been reaching out to the community of riders to offer their services amid Glovo's shift towards the labor model. At the beginning of December last year – one day before its CEO, Oscar Pierre, testified in court in the criminal case against him – the company unexpectedly announced that 100% of its delivery drivers would become salaried employees.

Half a year later, this change is still ongoing and has generated tensions among the messengers who have already arrived at the courts. ARA has contacted Valverde García several times this past week to verify his version, but the lawyer clearly explains on its website how he has launched a class action lawsuit against Glovo, which has already been joined by more than a thousand people riders from all over the State. The purpose of these complaints is to claim compensation from the company for labor violations in recent years, after many delivery drivers have begun receiving messages from Glovo in recent weeks offering them a new contract as employees.

Valverde García is relying on Article 50 of the Workers' Statute, which establishes the just causes for an employee to request the termination of their contract. Thus, he is requesting compensation for unfair dismissal for the delivery drivers, as well as recognition of the company's violation of their fundamental rights. Therefore, he is seeking compensation for "personal and moral damages," which he "prudently" estimates at 120,000 euros for each courier. "It is a process in which only the winner can emerge, since there are no costs for the workers in the event of a dismissal," the lawyer states on his website. For the moment, he has requested a payment of 10 euros per month for each courier. rider and ensures that the fees will be collected when they receive the compensation.

The problem with the new contracts, various legal and union sources explain, is that the company offers them three options to continue working for their implementation. The first is a contract with a calculated work day, according to Glovo, with the hours set by the General Treasury of Social Security after various investigations by the Labor Inspectorate. Some riders They are offered to work only two hours a week with this option. The second is the average "effective activity hours" that the platform has verified over the last six months for each delivery person. Even so, couriers consider that these are still very few hours. In some cases, for example, only 18 hours per week when the rider He/she had a full-time job.

The third option is to simply request voluntary redundancy and opt out of the new contract. In this case, the company assures that it will prepare the settlement (they must decide between one of the three options within seven calendar days using a form) but says nothing about compensation for accumulated time worked. "What is being requested is recognition of full-time work. The company said it would regularize all workers, but it isn't doing so," warns lawyer Neus Vitó, who handles some of these cases. Last week, the lawyer also participated in a new mega-trial in Barcelona against Glovo, with more than 3,000 delivery drivers affected, which has been finalized.

The future of fleets

Sources of the riders Those who remain self-employed for now warn that in recent months they've noticed a drop in orders, while Glovo continues to use external fleets of delivery drivers during this time of transition. "The algorithm gave us less and less work, leaving us to die and go our own way," says one delivery driver. In any case, Fernando García, head of digital platforms at the UGT and union representative at Glovo, predicts that the external fleets will also disappear in the long run. "There's quite a bit of disarray. The company will suddenly have a gigantic operation and will have to organize itself better," he says. Another key issue will be the collective bargaining agreement that the platform will apply to new contracts: It is the state-owned courier company, expired since 2006 and with salaries that are out of step with the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI).

According to Cadena SER Catalunya, since the company promised to stop using freelancers six months ago, only 5,000 of its 30,000 riders They have become salaried employees. A Glovo spokesperson confirms that all delivery drivers have received the documentation to formalize their new contracts in recent days and assures that since the announcement of the employment model, "we have stopped hiring new freelancers." "In various situations, to maintain activity, as well as test the employment model and operational changes, we have turned to third-party companies. This is common in the sector," the Catalan multinational emphasizes. Given the lack of success with the new contracts, the platform is reportedly sending emails with longer working hours of up to 30 hours per week with seven additional hours.

Beyond the commotion over the hiring changes, Glovo still has other open fronts in the courts. Legal sources from the CGT (General Confederation of Workers' Commissions), which has appeared in the criminal proceedings against Pierre, report that the investigation phase of this case has been extended until the end of December. Until then, other company executives, including Marita Rancé, the company's top legal officer until the beginning of this year, will still have to testify as witnesses. "The proceedings will be lengthy," the same sources confirm. Glovo will also go to trial on June 17, after Barcelona Commercial Court No. 2 upheld the lawsuit filed by the food delivery platform JustEat for unfair competition, according to SER Catalunya.