The inspection begins an investigation to Uber Eats, the good platform that continues to make use of autonomous | Economy | EUROtoday

Three corporations dominate the meals forged enterprise in Spain: Just Eat, Glovo and Uber Eats. The first has been working with workers and the second has simply accomplished the transition to that very same mannequin, after years defending the system by itself. After the change in Glovo, Uber Eats is the one one of many three that continues to develop a part of its exercise with freelancers, a apply within the highlight of the Ministry of Labor. The Labor and Social Security inspection has initiated an investigation into the present Autonomous mannequin of Uber EATs, in keeping with sources recognized to the state of affairs.

This newspaper has contacted the inspection to know the state of the investigation. The Inspector company signifies that it doesn’t touch upon actions for the obligation of stealth. Sources conscious of the investigations require that they’ve simply begun and that they’re in a really preliminary part.

The firm confirms that analysis to its present mannequin is underway: “We are fully cooperating with the Labor Inspection and we will continue to collaborate with the Government to ensure the stability of the long -term sector.” An organization spokesman defends that “Uber Eats complies with current regulations in all the countries in which it operates.”

The work scrutiny to Uber Eats is just not a shock. When Glovo introduced the change in his mannequin, this newspaper requested the Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey, if this firm was the next inspection job. “If there is any other company, regardless of its size or its strength, which is breaking the Rider law At this time, the weight of the law will also fall on it with all its intensity. There will be no exceptions, ”replied quantity two of the Ministry.

Then he additionally stated that with the Rider regulationaccepted in 2021 with union and employer assist, it was determined that “in our country the model for the delivery It is labor. “” He is the only possible one. You are called Glovo, Uber Eats, Just Eat or as you want to call, there is no space for a model of false freelancers. We must face the sovereignty of the law, the sanctions, to the public discredit that involves erecting your business on precariousness. It is not worth it, ”he added.

Hybrid mannequin

The Uber Eats mannequin in Spain is hybrid: one half works salaried via subcontracts [que en el sector se conocen como flotas] And one other does it by itself, as self -employed. The firm doesn’t element what number of distributors use in every mannequin. “In Spain, our hybrid model offers distributors the freedom to choose between working as salaried employees, hired by one of our associated fleets, or as self -employed using a tool that guarantees full autonomy, including the possibility of setting their own rates or accepting and rejecting orders when they wish,” says an organization spokesman.

Before this hybrid mannequin, Uber Eats has labored with different work techniques. At the start, when Deliveroo was additionally a part of the market, it solely operated with freelancers. “It was a 100% autonomous model, such as Glovo [por entonces]. But they changed to the approval of the Rider lawat the end of 2021 ”, he recalled in a latest report of this newspaper the pinnacle of Digital Platforms of UGT, Fernando García. Then he was a type of distributors of Uber Eats, to which the corporate“ disconnected ”to maneuver on to a mannequin of workers, with the goal of fulfilling the Rider regulation. “Like me,” Garcia recollects, “some 4,500 people were disconnected. Not fired, according to the company, disconnected. Justice ended up giving us the reason, that was a massive dismissal.”

The Uber Eats response to the Rider regulation It was to vary to a labor mannequin, which as we speak maintains for VTC automobiles. There are not any freelancers, however neither employed straight by the corporate: they function with fleets, subcontracts that use their drivers. Then Glovo didn’t transfer, he endured in his autonomous operation, which modified shortly after the Uber Eats technique. The normal director of the corporate in Spain, Courtney Tims, stated in a letter despatched to Yolanda Díaz in March 2022: “Once the transition period has elapsed, all companies had to adapt to the new law. All? No, not all. Glovo, the largest company, leader of the delivery In Spain, he decided to continue operating with self -employed workers. ”

“Meanwhile, we see impotence how the government has failed to enforce the Rider law. And how the disadvantage situation of all the companies that we fulfill it worsens every day. Given this situation, we all ask ourselves: should we follow the example of Glovo and work with freelancers to compete on equal terms? ”Times puzzled in the identical letter. He answered herself shortly after, in August 2022, when Uber Eats introduced a brand new flip: she reopened the door to the distributors on their very own. Some distributors are wage earners by way of subcontractors and others are autonomous.

Uber Eats has been defending that its new method of working with freelancers does respect the Rider regulationin essence as a result of, they clarify, the app doesn’t give them orders, it provides freedom to the supply man. As specified by the corporate, the supply man is aware of the order element earlier than accepting and isn’t penalized if he rejects it; You can decide the minimal value per kilometer at every order; and obtain solely affords which might be equal to or increased than that fee.

Unions have a really completely different opinion. They consider that this Uber Eats mannequin, now beneath the magnifying glass of the inspection, doesn’t meet the Rider regulationand so they have been stressing that the earlier mannequin, when it solely operated with freelancers, was already investigated by the inspection. “Yes there are investigations and sentences, although not firm, of its previous autonomous model. Over time they will confirm fines,” Garcia stated in December final 12 months. Uber Eats typically do not forget that its autonomous mannequin is acquiring judicial assist in nations equivalent to Portugal and respects the European platform directive, which Spain has not but transposed.

The annual accounts that the Portier Eats Spain firm (with which it develops this UBER EATs exercise in Spain) deposited within the Mercantile Registry in December final 12 months contemplated a complete of 136 million in provisions for fiscal and authorized contingencies related to its hiring mannequin. These are the monetary statements of 2021, however have been formulated on July 31, 2024, two and a half years after their conclusion.

Glovo and Just Eat, confronted in justice

The different two giant corporations within the sector, Glovo and Just Eat, are engaged in a judicial battle. The second, the one one which has totally accepted the Rider regulation From the start, he denounced Glovo for unfair competitors in December final 12 months. He claims 295 million euros in damages. At the identical time, the CEO of Glovo defends himself from the accusation of committing an alleged crime in opposition to the rights of his employees, punished with jail sentences from six months to 6 years. The Prosecutor’s Office accuses him of “impairing and suppressing” the labor rights of his distributors for his insistence on working with false freelancers.