With layoffs on the horizon, Glovo workers have had enough. Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), the union with the most representation in the Catalan company, has announced the call for a strike for three days, from Friday, April 24 to Sunday, April 26, to demand "dignified conditions" for the delivery drivers.

Glovo informed unions on Wednesday that it is opening a workforce reduction plan (ERE) that will affect 750 workers across Spain, as previously reported. The CountryThe delivery company will reduce its service in more than 60 locations across the state, which it has not yet specified, "to avoid closure," as explained by a company spokesperson.

The Milan Public Prosecutor's Office has ordered the "urgent" placement of Foodinho, a subsidiary of the delivery platform Glovo, under judicial control, alleging that it exploits its workers. The decree, issued by prosecutor Paolo Storari and obtained by EFE, must be ratified by a judge and targets Foodinho, the company that manages Glovo in Italy, and its sole administrator, Òscar Pierre. This measure would entail the appointment of a court-appointed administrator to supervise and control the company in Italy while the allegations are investigated. The prosecutor accuses the company of "hiring labor under exploitative conditions, taking advantage of the employees' vulnerable situation." Specifically, the company paid its delivery drivers—approximately 2,000 in Milan alone and 40,000 across Italy—a wage that was, in some cases, 81.62% lower than the amount stipulated in the collective bargaining agreement. "A figure that is disproportionate to both the quality and quantity of work performed to guarantee a free and dignified existence, and which clearly does not comply with the national collective bargaining agreements stipulated" by the unions, the prosecutor argues. He also accuses Foodinho of "adopting a company policy that explicitly disregards the requirements of respecting the law." Italian authorities have appointed a court-appointed administrator who will oversee the management of the company under investigation and report to the judge on its situation. The investigation by the Milanese Public Prosecutor's Office, described in a report of more than 50 pages, also includes statements from some of the delivery drivers who work for Foodinho, all of whom are foreign nationals. Many claim that they worked up to 12 hours a day, received €2.50 per delivery, and were required to be constantly geolocated with few breaks, among other things. Last August, a labor court in Milan ordered Glovo to pay its delivery drivers in Italy more due to the extreme heat and to provide them with protective equipment, deeming the company's measures "inadequate."

The expansion of platform work over the last decade has transformed labor relations in many ways, including the health risks associated with this type of work. This is the impact studied by the European project GIG-OSH, a collaboration between Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and the Hospital del Mar Research Institute Barcelona, ​​using data from seven countries across the continent. Both institutions published the report on Tuesday. Working on digital platforms: what do we know about health and safety?The study highlights how the apparent flexibility promised by apps can become a form of precarious employment with dynamics detrimental to the physical and mental well-being of workers.

What happens when a startup is sold? Can a well-known brand continue to grow even after changing hands and becoming part of a larger group? Catalan examples like Glovo, surprisingly bought by the German giant Delivery Hero in January 2022 for almost 1 billion euros, or Wallapop, which in August announced that it was being sold to South Korean giant Naver –which already held a 30% stake– for 377 million euros, laying the groundwork for a smooth transition and emphasizing the importance of maintaining a degree of autonomy.

In 2010, 15 years ago, the word start-up It wasn't yet part of our everyday vocabulary. Or at least, not in Catalonia. In fact, in the ARA (Catalan newspaper), it didn't begin to appear frequently until 2013, evidence that the tech startup boom was brewing, but hadn't yet exploded. The first official reports we have in Catalonia, from ACCIÓ – the Catalan government's business competitiveness agency – date from 2016 and already positioned the Principality as a leading region in Europe in the creation of start-ups and with growing potential to attract international investment and talent. At that time, there were more than 1,000. By 2025, ACCIÓ already counted some 2,300, a record figure that had increased by 9% in one year, an ecosystem that employs 22,840 people and generates a turnover of 2.33 billion euros.

The Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, has announced that a campaign by the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate is underway "right now" to monitor the use of algorithms by large technology companies operating in Spain. "Whether they're called Uber, Cabify, or Amazon, whatever their name may be, we will monitor the use of algorithmic control that these companies have over workers," Díaz stated this Thursday during her appearance before the Labor Committee in the Congress of Deputies. She explained that this measure is part of a "step forward" to improve quality employment in technology companies that establish themselves in the country. Díaz criticized these companies, "very modern, of the 21st century," for sometimes operating "with Dickensian, 19th-century conditions." "We will not tolerate the Amazon model, which allows its employees to work 120 hours a week. We will not tolerate the tech company model that uses monitoring bracelets to track how long employees spend in the bathroom. It's not just Amazon; there are many others," she asserted.

Second 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.

Glovo, the Barcelona-born home delivery platform, is back in the news. This time in the executive market, after launching an advisory board that will include several former politicians and businessmen, with names well known to everyone. Glovo thus covers its shoulders after years of back-and-forth with the authorities and several open court battles, such as the war with Just Eat over alleged unfair competition. Puig also took advantage of his earnings presentation to announce a new position, and Ipsen has a new CEO.

The German company Delivery Hero, owner of Glovo, has questioned Glovo's continued operation in Spain due to the costs that would be incurred by the fines imposed on its work model and the reclassification of its delivery drivers as employees rather than self-employed. The company made this clear in its first-quarter earnings report, published this Thursday.

After ten years of using false self-employment, this is the first summer in which Glovo's delivery drivers are already hired as employees, a decisive transformation of the model that is taking time to implement. The new operation, which came into effect at the beginning of July, has started at forced marches and several sources from the workers explain to ARA that, so far, this first month has been marked by uncertainty and internal chaos, which have ignited discontent among the workers. riders"There's disorganization, but above all there's uncertainty. The migration from the self-employed to the salaried model has brought many technical problems," notes Franz Morales, a former delivery driver and head of the new work realities team at CCOO Catalunya. The company, for its part, notes that the change has been very rapid and has been implemented in more than 900 cities.

Barcelona Commercial Court No. 2 has rejected Just Eat's lawsuit against Glovo for unfair competition. The plaintiff was seeking 295 million euros in compensation. In its ruling, the court finds that the platform always acted "within the law" and that the contracts since 2019 guaranteed the autonomy of the delivery drivers (riders), allowing this service on a self-employed basis.

The 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.

Glovo, the home delivery platform, celebrated its 10th anniversary this Monday amid congratulations from governments and businesses, but also with its eyes on the courts. The trial for the lawsuit filed by Just Eat for alleged unfair competition by the Catalan company will take place from Tuesday to Friday. According to Glovo co-founder Òscar Pierre, at an event held at its headquarters in Poblenou, these ten years mark a change of era for the company, which began as a start-up technological and now, he says, "it's time to stop being less entrepreneurial and become more business people."

In 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.

Brussels has imposed a €329 million fine on delivery companies. Glovo and Delivery Hero food cartel. According to a statement from the European Commission published this Monday, both companies have breached EU competition rules. Specifically, they have reached agreements and implemented business strategies aimed at limiting or preventing competition between large multinationals in the sector operating in the EU market.

The American food delivery company DoorDash will acquire its British competitor Deliveroo for €3.393 billion, the latter company announced in a statement sent to the London Stock Exchange. San Francisco-based DoorDash had already made a proposal to acquire all of Deliveroo's shares last month and will pay 210 cents in cash for each share.

The investment arm of South African technology company Naspers, Prosus, has announced the purchase of the company delivery Just Eat for 4.1 billion euros. The operation, when made public, has boosted Just Eat shares by more than 50% on the Dutch stock exchange this Monday. Specifically, Prosus has reached a "conditional" agreement to make a recommended public offer on 100% of Just Eat shares for this price.

Movement at the top of two of the Catalan financial institutions. CaixaBank is renewing its board of directors, after the change of president on January 1, and putting an end to the presence of the former Bankia in the highest governing body of the bank, which is now chaired by Tomàs Muniesa in place of José Ignacio Goirigolzarri. CaixaBank has announced that five members of the board will be leaving: the former president José Ignacio Goirigolzarri and the independents Joaquín Ayuso, Francisco Javier Campo and Eva Castillo. José Serna, a director representing La Caixa, is also leaving. Rosa María García, Luis Álvarez, Bernardo Sánchez, Pablo Forero and José María Méndez will join. But this week, changes have also been announced at Caixa Ingenieros.

The first formal strike in the home delivery sector has managed to get noticed. About 150 Glovo supermarket workers have concentrated this Friday morning at the headquarters of the company and have repeated the action early in the afternoon in the centre of Barcelona to demand their direct hiring and certain improvements in their working conditions. This is the result of the first of nine strike days that will be distributed between this and the next two weekends. The first mobilisation has had a 100% of follow-up, according to CCOO union, and has paralysed the activity in the supermarkets that the company has in Barcelona.