Just Eat, in the lawsuit against Glovo: "The use of freelancers has significantly reduced the industry's margins."

BarcelonaThe next day that Glovo celebrated its tenth anniversary and the beginning of a new chapter in which promises to hire delivery drivers -with the presence of the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and representatives of the majority unions-, the platform has another date in court. This Tuesday, the trial against the company for unfair competition began, in which its competitor Just Eat is claiming compensation of 295 million euros in damages.

Precisely, the hearing, which will last until Friday, has begun with the intervention of one of Glovo's lawyers to provide as a "new fact" the photograph of this Monday's event with the company's co-founders, Oscar Pierre and Sacha Michaud, along with Isla and the union leaders of . In his opinion, the meeting demonstrates the support of the institutions for the platform's shift towards the model of riders Salaried employees. At a press conference, the regional minister and spokesperson, Sílvia Paneque, emphasized that the Catalan president did not attend the event to "influence" the legal proceedings or so that Glovo's lawyers could profit. The fact that Glovo's self-employed workers during its first decade of operations is the main reason Just Eat has taken the Catalan company to court has allowed it to maintain lower costs, be more aggressive in its promotions to users and restaurants, and also offer lucrative exclusivity contracts to the businesses it works with.

Just Eat's model works, on the one hand, by offering its technological platform to restaurants that already have their delivery operations to connect them with new customers (this represents 70% of the business in Spain); and, on the other hand, the company has its own fleet of couriers or through third parties (the remaining 30%).

The fact that everyone is on staff has made it difficult for them to open their service to new cities or have to close it and assume the costs of layoffs, according to the general manager. "With freelancers it's much easier, you just have to unplug," he said. Barea has exposed the "rigidity" of the employment model, unlike the open bar of false freelancers, which also forces them to plan their schedules riders in advance: "If you have too many workers it's a ruin; if you're short, wait times increase and customers aren't happy." In fact, he admitted that Just Eat considered working with freelancers in 2016, but ruled it out due to the legal risks

Price war to attract restaurants.

Barea also highlighted the aggressiveness with which Glovo negotiates exclusivity agreements with restaurants and cited as an example of this "war" the contract with a business of fifteen establishments, whose starting price for negotiations was 3 million euros. "Having to pay the delivery drivers, we cannot assume these amounts," the general manager of Just Eat Spain pointed out as an argument to support Glovo's unfair competition.

The executive even asserted that the Barcelona company carried out a "fairly strong" campaign last year to pressure restaurateurs to stop using their own delivery drivers and use their own. riders to save money. "Some have laid off their own fleet. Why hire them themselves if someone offers it at half price and saves them the headache?" Barea asked.