Deliveroo must apply the collective labour agreement for professional freight transport

Deliveroo must apply the collective labour agreement for professional freight transport for meal deliverers in the Netherlands, as a judge ruled this morning on appeal in a case that Dutch labour union FNV brought against Deliveroo. The verdict comes after another appeal case ruled that the deliverers are employees and not self-employed workers, as Deliveroo claims.

Willem Dijkhuizen, FNV Transport & Logistics: 'This ruling is once again good news for the Deliveroo meal deliverers. Because they are now covered by this collective labour agreement, their terms of employment are properly arranged in one go and they have certainty about their income.'

Due to the judge's ruling, the deliverers are entitled to, among other things, a fixed hourly wage, allowances and holiday pay, and their wages are paid during waiting time, illness and days off. Dijkhuizen: "The ruling applies retroactively to all deliverers who work and have worked for Deliveroo. Deliverers can report to FNV to jointly claim an employment contract that includes a collective labour agreement wage.'

Lawsuits

FNV has several lawsuits pending against platform companies that use bogus self-employed workers, such as Deliveroo, Temper and Uber. Zakaria Boufangacha, Vice-President FNV: “Those lawsuits would not be necessary if the government enforced its own laws. For 5.5 years, however, the government has barely enforced the approach to sham commissioning. As a result, platform companies can avoid being an employer and thus compete unfairly with companies that properly comply with the labour and collective labour agreement rules.'

More and more resistance

There is increasing political opposition to the excesses of flexible working. The European Commission recently presented a proposal to better protect platform workers. Last year, the Borstlap committee also spoke out against the increased flexibility. Last June, the SER recommended introducing a 'legal presumption of employeeship' at an hourly rate below 30 to 35 euros. This means that if the worker believes that he or she is an employee, the employer must prove the contrary in court.

Coalition agreement

The recently presented Dutch government’s coalition agreement indicates that the government wants to combat bogus commissioning by means of better enforcement. Boufangacha: "It seems that the urgency is being felt by the government. That is the merit of the platform employees who have stuck their necks out together with FNV. It is important, however, that politicians act quickly now and that tackling sham commissioning is carried out quickly.'