Yolanda Díaz confronts Uber about using fake freelancers: "They're not going to fool us."

BarcelonaSecond Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, declared war on Uber this Thursday in response to the alleged violations it is committing in Spain with the use of fake self-employed workers on its UberEats delivery app. "I'm not going to fool the Spanish government, and I can tell you now that the full force of the law will fall on this company in response to the violations it is demonstrating in our country," she stated during the presentation of the Labor Inspectorate's strategic plan for the period 2025-2027.

After the Spanish government passed the law rider In 2021, platforms like UberEats and Glovo continued to employ freelancers, arguing that their model had changed and gave delivery workers more freedom. However, The Catalan company ended up giving in And since this summer, it has begun hiring all of its couriers as employees. The Californian company, on the other hand, moved to a hybrid model and today still combines self-employed workers with fleets of temporary employment agencies. In fact, the government even reformed the Penal Code to toughen sentences for crimes against labor rights with these platforms in mind, but so far Uber has not backed down on its use of freelancers.

"We already did it with another company [Glovo] and I want to make it clear that we will do it again right now with Uber," Díaz assured, after emphasizing that no matter how large a company is, it will not put itself "above the law." Thus, the second vice president emphasized that the Spanish government will do "whatever it has to do" with the American company, "because it is allegedly outside the law of the country." In this sense, she highlighted the work of inspectors in enforcing the law. rider, as it wouldn't have been possible without their work. "It's a law that allows no escape," he asserted.

New time record

On the other hand, Díaz recalled that last Tuesday the Spanish government approved the urgent processing of the regulations that will govern the new time recordFor the first time, this registry will be digital, interoperable, and accessible to workers, union representatives, and the inspectorate itself "with a single click." "We must put an end to the 2.8 million unpaid overtime hours that are making life miserable for more than 400,000 workers," the Minister of Labor demanded. "With the Inspectorate's action, these will translate into recovered wages and respected life expectancy," she added.

The Labor Inspectorate's strategic plan for the 2025-2027 period includes an increase of 554 inspectors and sub-inspectors, as well as technical and administrative staff, in addition to a "heavy" investment to continue deepening technological improvements. According to Díaz, this supervisory body currently has 2,482 employees, which means that, in just over one legislative term, the workforce has increased by 23%. "This year, the Inspectorate has carried out more than 859,517 actions; it has detected 46,000 false self-employed workers; it has recovered lost wages for workers amounting to 33.5 million euros, transforming 26,000 temporary contracts into permanent ones," he explained.