Uber Eats shuts down food delivery in Italy. The decision, announced by the U.S. giant on June 15, is irrelevant to consumers, who are served by other operators, but it leaves riders jobless and without protections.
Uber Eats leaves Italy
The choice to leave the Italian market depends on the failure of objectives.
‘We have not grown in line with our expectations to ensure a sustainable business in the long run,’ explains a statement on the website of the company, which operates in 60 Italian cities. (1)
Uber Eats was the last major global food delivery operator to land in Italy, in 2016. After Denmark’s Just Eat, pioneered in 2011, came Foodora, Glovo, Moovenda and the UK’s Deliveroo, the undisputed market leader in Italy, in 2015. (2)
A month of transition
The company will continue to operate for one month. The transition phase will allow restaurant partners to make arrangements with other food delivery operators. Less simple will be relocation for riders.
‘Over the past seven years, thousands of couriers and delivery partners have been able to earn money through our app easily and instantly.
Our main goal now is to do what we can for our employees, in accordance with current laws, while ensuring a smooth transition for all of our restaurants and couriers who use our platform,’ says Uber Eats.
Uber Eats riders without protections
Barring spontaneous disbursements by the company, as yet unreported, de facto Uber Eats riders remain out of work and without the forms of protection guaranteed to employees.
‘Official notice arrived today first to the workers and then to the unions to whom the letter was sent opening the collective dismissal procedure for the office employees, about 40 people. Delivery workers, on the other hand, are entitled to nothing as usual, as they are formally self-employed withholding tax or VAT-registered, they remain without protection from dismissal and any social security coverage‘, comments Deliverance Milan, the metropolitan riders‘ union. (3)
A market now saturated
After the boom in demand dictated by the restrictions for Covid-19, the food delivery business is now less fulfilling to the expectations of Uber Eats. The same applies to the parallel sector-quick ecommerce, the rapid delivery of packaged food-where the retreat of Gorillas (which, however, used to hire its own riders under contract) has already been noted.
‘The delivery market is saturated‘ and it is not enough for multinationals such as Uber, Deliveroo, Glovo or Foodora to compress labor costs and business risk as much as possible, offloading it onto the backs of workers through piecework, in order to stay afloat. This is proof that we need to regulate the category as soon as possible and incentivize bargaining between social partners to guarantee workers‘, presses Deliverance Milan.
The slow progression of protections in Europe
For the protection of the rights of workers engaged on digital platforms, meanwhile, consideration of the proposal for a directive on the subject submitted by the Commission on December 9, 2021, is proceeding.
After one and a half years, on June 12, 2023, the EU Council finalized its position, which will be submitted to the European Parliament and finally to the European Commission for consideration. (4) The timing does not seem quick.
Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) Manuel De Mattia. Uber Eats divests operations in Italy. Uber Newsroom. 15.6.23 https://www.uber.com/it/newsroom/uber-eats-dismette-le-operazioni-in-italia/
(2) Marta Strinati. Food delivery , the boom in home delivered meals. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 5.2.19
(3) Uber Eats closes its doors in Italy: who will be next? Deliverance Milan. 15.6.23 https://www.facebook.com/deliverancemilano/?locale=it_IT
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
