Glovo publicizes an ERE that can have an effect on about 750 supply staff | Economy | EUROtoday

Glovo introduced this Wednesday to the unions that it intends to execute an Employment Regulation File (ERE) that can have an effect on a most of 750 supply staff in 60 cities in Spain, in accordance with the corporate itself. The meals supply firm proposes this collective dismissal lower than a yr after finishing its transition to a salaried mannequin, after years of stress from the Government and the justice system to desert its false self-employment scheme. In July of final yr, the workforce of salaried supply drivers was round 14,000 supply staff.

“Glovo is forced to reduce its service in more than 60 locations in different provinces of Spain to avoid its closure. For the rest of the cities, which exceed 800 throughout Spain, the app “Glovo maintains its regular operations for the second,” indicates a Glovo spokesperson. The company explains that the ERE will affect many provinces: Barcelona, ​​Tarragona, Girona, Valencia, Alicante, Ciudad Real, Guadalajara, Cáceres, Badajoz, Seville, Málaga, Cádiz, Las Palmas and Gipuzkoa, in addition to the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla.

The news does not come as a surprise to the sector. CC OO – the union with the most implantation in the company – denounced in February the development of a possible covert ERE, given the succession of layoffs that they had been detecting in the company. Those responsible for CC OO warned the company that if these “anti-union practices” did not stop and if they did not sit down to negotiate improvements in working conditions, they would start a “national calendar” of mobilizations “at the state level.”

This Wednesday morning, the union announced that it had formalized a complaint before the National Court for these practices, before the company’s announcement. “We have denounced Glovo before the National Court for the massive layoffs that the company has been carrying out, far exceeding the 30 layoffs in the last 90 days that require the official presentation of an ERE,” indicates CC OO. The union explains that if the courts agree with them, “the immense number of unfair disciplinary dismissals that Glovo is carrying out will be annulled and all the people unfairly dismissed must be reinstated.”

Beyond the delivery drivers hired directly by Glovo, the company also operates with subcontractors. Sector sources estimate that the company employs around 21,000 delivery drivers in Spain, including subcontractors and contractors. CC OO believes that this subcontracting system involves “an illegal transfer of workers” and that the company intends to “intensify” this scheme “after the execution of mass layoffs.”

According to sources familiar with Glovo’s decision, the ERE is related to a contraction in the availability of the platform in some medium and small cities, to operational complications. “After this tough choice, the corporate will proceed working to consolidate the working mannequin and supply the very best expertise to customers and institutions that belief within the app“provides a Glovo spokesperson.

Glovo, the principle participant in meals supply in Spain, fought for years to keep away from being an organization that needed to undergo an ERE to make main employees changes. It maintained its scheme of self-employed supply drivers regardless of the ruling of the Supreme Court in 2020, which acknowledged the employment relationship of the riders and Glovo. Although the place of the excessive court docket left little room for interpretation, the Government needed to bolster the discovering that supply drivers ought to be salaried with a regulatory change. He did it by rider regulationpermitted in 2021 with the help of employers and unions.

Before the approval of this rule and in addition after, the Labor Inspection imposed million-dollar fines on Glovo for its efforts to make use of false self-employed staff. But the important thing to the labor change within the firm got here later, in January 2023. Then a modification of the Penal Code got here into software that punished with jail sentences of six months to 6 years and a fantastic of six to 12 months “those who impose illegal conditions on their workers by hiring them under formulas unrelated to the employment contract, or maintain them against a requirement or administrative sanction.”

Shortly after, Labor ready a report that documented a whole bunch of circumstances of self-employed Glovo supply drivers who, within the opinion of the ministry, ought to be salaried. This documentary load led to a grievance that fell to the Investigative Court quantity 31 of Barcelona, ​​which opened an investigation. One day earlier than testifying in that course of, accused of a criminal offense in opposition to staff’ rights, the top of Glovo introduced that his firm was transferring to a labor mannequin, with out self-employed staff.

The change in Glovo has been the advance fee made by one other massive meals supply firm in Spain, Uber Eats. The firm introduced in January the top of its freelance mannequin, which it mixed with subcontractors. He introduced that any more he would function solely with middleman firms, with out direct hiring, however all the time with staff. Uber Eats took this step after Labor mentioned in December that it might activate felony proceedings in opposition to the corporate if it didn’t instantly rent its self-employed supply drivers.

Then, Labor additionally indicated that the Inspection investigation into the Uber Eats mannequin could be accomplished in January, however for the time being no outcomes have been revealed.

Glovo has additionally made headlines in current weeks for its issues in Italy. The authorities of the transalpine nation, on the request of the Milan Prosecutor’s Office, have positioned Foodinho SRL, the Italian subsidiary of Glovo, beneath judicial supervision, which they accuse of exploiting supply staff. This measure includes the appointment of a judicial administrator who supervises and controls the corporate whereas the information are investigated. Judicial management seeks to place an finish to a state of affairs of illegality and proper it.