A large group of meal deliverers is revolting against the working conditions at Thuisbezorgd. The deliverers demand higher hourly wages, predictable working days and more attention to safety.
This is apparent from a petition from the Radical Riders action group, which stands up for the rights of meal deliverers. The petition has been signed by several hundred meal deliverers working in the Netherlands and is addressed to the management of Just Eat Takeaway, the parent company of Thuisbezorgd. At the end of 2021, about 40,000 meal deliverers in the Netherlands were working with Thuisbezorgd as the undisputed market leader.
The activists want Thuisbezorgd deliverers over the age of eighteen to earn a minimum of 14 euros per hour (currently a maximum of 13 euros). They also demand an end to working weeks with strongly varying working hours and more attention to safety. That means no longer working during extreme weather conditions, better-maintained bicycles and “faster procedures” to compensate for the damage suffered by deliverers injured in bicycle accidents.
Thuisbezorgd does not want to respond to the demands of the deliverers. An appointment between representatives of Radical Riders, trade union FNV and the management of Thuisbezorgd to discuss the demands was canceled at the last minute on Friday. According to a representative of Radical Riders “because Thuisbezorgd does not want the media to know about it”.
From conversations that NRC In recent days, eight bicycle couriers from Thuisbezorgd from Eindhoven, Groningen and Amsterdam have shown that there are many complaints about the working conditions of meal deliverers who cycle for Thuisbezorgd.
Malfunctioning brakes
For example, the Thuisbezorgd e-bikes suffer from malfunctioning brakes, delivery drivers complain about non-waterproof clothing and delivery drivers say they are pressured by executives to come to work in the event of illness or extreme weather.
Home delivery couriers are often employed through so-called payroll constructions, in which the deliverers are hired through employment agencies. This gives them more rights than the self-employed who drive for competitors such as UberEats and Deliveroo. For example, home delivery couriers receive 70 percent of their wages in the event of illness and are insured in the event of injury.
The construction whereby Thuisbezorgd shifts part of the responsibility to the employment agency means that deliverers who get into trouble can end up between two stools.
It happened to the Greek delivery man Leonardos Theodorakis, who had a serious accident in March as a courier for Thuisbezorgd in Amsterdam and has since been bivouacking in a hostel with a broken knee and shin bone. Both employment agency Randstad and Thuisbezorgd refuse to help him, he says. “I app and call Thuisbezorgd every day for a solution and then hear that they call me back,” he says. “But they never call back.”
Also read: Read the background story here: Meal delivery man Lino broke his knee. Who’s going to help him now?
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of May 14, 2022
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