Home News Riders protests, the fight against their new law

Riders protests, the fight against their new law

Surely you've heard of the Riders. That is, dealers that are registered on platforms such as Glovo or UberEats and they work distributing food for the users of these apps. With the pandemic, this work has undergone a great boom, which has caused the Ministry of Labor has created a law to regulate it. The problem is that many do not agree with it and have formed the so-called Riders protests. Do you want to know what the law is about and why some disagree? Continue reading.

What does the new Rider Law say?

The new Rider Law, recently approved, is based on distributors of digital platforms starting to have a working relationship with companies. That is, they are employed and not self-employed as they have been until now.

Likewise, companies will have to register workers in the Social security or resort to subcontractors who have done the same, freeing the distributors from having to pay the freelance quota. The norm also obliges all companies that work with algorithms to give the unions the information that they relate to the working conditions.

Riders and CCOO demonstration with the slogan "They are not autonomous, they are precarious" | Source: Ccoo.es

This has divided the Riders sector and caused many of them to gather in demonstrations in front of the Congress of Deputies to protest against what they consider a tremendous injustice. The pro-autonomous riders they intend to continue being self-employed and non-salaried workers as required by the Ministry of Labor. Although this is justified by saying that what it intends to avoid is the precariousness of the group and cause an improvement within it.

Furthermore, the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz believes that this law "is going to change the sign of the times" and that it will place Spain at the forefront of international legislation on this matter. Well, as he declared at the press conference after a Council of Ministers at the end of May "there is no country in the world that has dared to legislate on this." He has also insisted that "a young man who rides a bicycle is not an entrepreneur", in line with the ruling of the Supreme Court which he established in September 2020.

Riders protests
Glovo worker delivering with motorbike | Source: Jda.es

What are the Riders protests based on?

One of the main problems arising from this controversial issue is that there is a large number of foreign Without a work permit they work as Riders because they don't have much choice. Or, also, because they have not renewed it, which means that they cannot choose to be employees.

Likewise, another of the main points that pro-autonomous Riders fight for is the imminent change of your salary. Since with the new law, according to them, they have to make precarious contracts of 20 hours per week at a maximum of 6 euros per hour, compared to the 9 or 10 euros they charged before. In the same way, there are currently in Spain some 30.000 delivery peopleTherefore, they consider it unfeasible for the platforms to hire everyone.

Riders protests
Bike delivery man from the online platform Uber Eats

Finally, Protestants also believe that in small cities there is a great risk that many platforms will stop operating. Since due to this new law the privilege of being able to have flexibility and freedom in choosing the hours to work. So they fear that many of them may lose their job and never find another one again, due to their age and the difficulty in finding work today.

Although thanks to the demonstrations and protests of Riders they have been heard and many people empathize with them, the Courts have finally ended up approving the ley. And it will come into force shortly, officially on 12 August of this year. And you, what do you think of this situation? Do you agree with the pro-autonomous Riders or do you think it is better that their work be regulated by this law?

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