Courier routine: some work after 60 hours. per week, others don’t even earn the minimum wage



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He spoke about this at a meeting of the Tripartite Council on Tuesday. For their part, representatives of some platforms explained that employees are free people and can choose where, when and how much to work.

I want clarity

V. Vukotičius, representative of the association that unites the messengers of Bolt Food, Wolt and other platforms, the union division of May 1, taught that companies offer low prices to consumers at the expense of the health and social welfare of your employees.

“Most of the business risk falls on the employees and we want to find out three things,” he said. – First, legal security. Some platforms use a regulatory vacuum.
In some places there are no contracts, in others there are service contracts and in others there are labor relations, but very few.

Second, we believe that workers should be insured against workplace accidents. Most companies agree with that, for example, we are already discussing it with Wolt.

Third, the most important point is that the platforms share information. Now we have a very large information asymmetry. Everything is considered a trade secret ”, said the speaker.

V. Vukotičius said that now people expect to work on applications, as before in factories.

“Jobs cannot be considered a lottery, it must be reported if there is work, when there is and when there is not. By the way, work is assigned using algorithms, but they are not objective. Sometimes they are highly discriminatory in nature.

For example, this is why Uber found itself in court in Amsterdam, because its algorithm punishes people who get sick. Their indicator is getting worse because they have not been connected for a long time, “said a representative of the” Courier Association “.

The letters to the Tripartite Council further state that companies reserve the right to change rates without seeking the consent of their partners (for example, Bolt’s food courier rates change daily; work for a particular courier).

“There is a risk that even full-time people (who have joined the platform 40 hours a week) will not receive the minimum monthly wage. Bolt shared with us that there are currently about 5,000 people in Lithuania. people have applied to work with Bolt’s food couriers and are waiting for their application to be granted.

A person can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which can exceed 60 hours. maximum working time. Employees themselves do not have information about who they compete with in that job market (how many other people receive orders that year). Also, the working principles of an algorithm that (does) assign jobs are secret, which creates uncertainty about earnings. The problem of the secrecy of the algorithms is also raised in the EU directive that is currently being discussed, where it is proposed to publish the algorithms of these companies ”, reads the information provided.

It is also notable that a significant proportion of employees are socially vulnerable groups.

“These are foreigners (from Ukraine, India, Belarus, African countries) who find it especially difficult to find another job in Lithuania. Women who work in this job are at risk of harassment. Also, especially in a pandemic, this job is being employed by more and more people who have lost their job, cannot find other paid activities, and are therefore completely reliant on email. platforms ”, reads the association’s statement.

Can work for the competition

The Deputy Minister of Social Security and Labor, Vytautas Šilinskas, pointed out that in other countries the courts have already recognized platform messengers as employees.

“There is a proposal for an EU directive to regulate this area. They don’t say they have to become employees, but they need to be regulated. We can leave this to ourselves, do nothing and then decide the court or the EU. Or we take the initiative into our own hands and decide how we want it to be in Lithuania, ”he reported.

Julius Kalvaitis, a representative for Wolt, who was present at the meeting at the time, said his messengers are completely free to decide when, where and how much to carry out their activities.

“You can choose to do this by opening or closing your application on your phone. They provide services completely independently, without control, without haste and more.

They do not require experience or educational requirements. We do not force ourselves to work specific hours, shifts, we do not establish minimum or maximum hours, because people who carry out individual activities can choose to do it themselves ”, he explained.

J. Kalvaitis said that currently the average income of Wolt couriers reaches 9 euros per hour.

“It is possible to provide services to competing companies,” he said.

Bolt’s representative Andrius Pacevičius said at the meeting that he humanly understands the problems expressed by the association.

“But I want to emphasize that work based on individual activity is specific. Companies cannot be responsible alone,” he said.

At the time, Ziticity spokesperson Vytautas Noreika added that the platforms were interested in the well-being and satisfaction of the people working on their systems.

“They compete with each other, and there are 7 or 8 of them in Vilnius, where couriers can receive additional income,” he said.

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