“Without the union our victories would not have been accomplished, and our employers would still be bossing us around in the most arrogant way.” – Veronika Merkova reports on the fight for unionisation & workers rights in the Greek gig economy.
Shortly after I moved back to Greece, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country followed by the country’s first lockdown. What was fascinating to me was the empty streets of Athens. The only people out and about were the delivery riders, the “daily heroes” and the “boys with the motorbikes” that kept the society going. We are talking about a mostly male dominated profession.
Many people close to me have at some point worked or are still working in that sector. Working in the streets as a delivery rider was never an ideal choice of employment. There’s the obvious struggles like the weather – rain, extreme heat in the summer and the cold in the winter. The direct risks for an accident are very common nationwide.
Many of the workers are immigrants who work, uninsured, for a measly rate of roughly 4 euros per hour. And if anything happens to them, their accidents go unreported.
Also, depending on the take-away’s policy, workers could be asked to deliver food up to 15 km (9.32 miles) away, sometimes totaling 100 km (60 miles) a shift. This applies especially to delivery platforms that deliver all around Athens and not just around a specific local area, like small businesses do.
The cost of petrol, the vehicle maintenance and their protective equipment was, and in most cases still is, something that workers struggle with and have to pay from their own wages that are not more than the minimum wage of 663 euros. Compare this to the average rental cost of a one-bedroom apartment (often only 40m2) that is fluctuating at around 450 euros and you are not left with much to live on.
SVEOD & Unions In Greece
Food delivery service is and has always been central in Greek culture and very popular for food and even for coffee deliveries.
It is a very old occupation and the union supporting these workers, SVEOD, was founded in 2007 and is a grassroots union for couriers, delivery drivers and outside workers.
Since their foundation they have worked by distributing their newspaper and having discussions with workers. In the beginning, they faced a lot of opposition from their colleagues and their demands sounded utopic to many of them. The union started with just a few people coming together, workers that felt that they couldn’t take it anymore and had to do something. Gradually, they grew to what they are today.
They operate through their weekly assemblies on Saturdays and monthly assemblies on Sundays. They also hold drop in sessions on Tuesdays when the union is open to those who need support and advice.
Since their foundation they have had 4 main demands concerning their profession:
- Company vehicles
- Means of Personal Protection
- Hazardous occupation insurance
- Unified Profession. A single profession for all workers that uses a two-wheels vehicle for their job. (couriers, delivery and external workers).
On their website they describe their identity as follows: “The fact is that since 2007 until now we have given countless battles against ‘small’ and ‘bigger’ bosses, most of which we have won. Without the union our victories would not have been accomplished, and our employers would still be bossing us around in the most arrogant way.”
A union representative explained to me how by “remaining permanently present in the public space they gained further ground each time”. Their victories are an outcome of many years of work and involvement. Their “continuous and coherent presence made the profession visible” and empowered their workers. From what they call “the ants work” they managed to achieve very important victories. They promised “not to change profession but to change the profession”.
In April 2019, SVEOD organized their largest motorbike demo and achieved one of their most significant victories when they pushed for a new law (4611/19) which demanded that bosses should pay an extra 15% on top of each monthly salary, to cover for the motorbike’s maintenance.
Additionally, the cost of petrol and staff’s protective equipment is also charged to the company and to be paid by the employers. Supplementary, according to the law, since December 2020 the bosses are obliged to present for every motorcycle that is used by their workers to an informative governmental system
The reality is, that even though this law has been legislated, in practice it’s facing many difficulties. As there is no circular or any controls on how this is implemented many employers, especially in small businesses, take advantage of it. For example, they pay workers 5 euros per hour and consider that all the extra costs are already included in the hourly rate. When speaking to someone from the union, he explains, “In the hourly rate of 5 euros per hour they consider the fuel included. In reality, what should happen is, fill up the motorbike before your shift and with your receipt get paid the amount.”
Efood (Delivery Hero) And Gig Economy in Greece
Most delivery workers are employed by Efood, which was founded in 2011, the largest service provider in Greece, delivering from 15,000 stores in 90 cities. Efood was sold to Delivery Hero in 2015, a company that is present in around 50 countries.
As it did in many countries of the word, the delivery service boomed during the Covid pandemic. In the first year of the pandemic efood saw a 49% rise in their profits. In the last few years, roughly another five delivery service companies emerged in Athens. This is in addition to delivery staff that are employed directly by the restaurants and take-aways. Many of these delivery services have now expanded their services to offer delivery for supermarket products. That goes to show the demand and the relationship the customers have with the delivery services.
Almost a year ago, in September 2021, Efood emailed 115 delivery workers that their 3-month contracts would not be renewed. They were told that they would have to become “freelancers” (self-employed), stripping away their workers’ rights, standard shifts or income, and so on. This was implemented after new anti-worker legislation that the right-wing New Democracy government put in place during the lockdown.
But that motivated a major strike organized by SVEOD and HWU Union – Trade union in Catering Tourism – Hotels and relevant professions of Attica – and consumer boycott which led to a huge victory. Social media went on fire under the hashtag #cancel_efood and many people deleted the app and rated it with 1 star.
SVEOD emphasise how important their constant organising work over the past years has been to this victory. They explain that SVOED has started a workplace specific union just for Efood – even though they won this battle there is still a lot more to fight for.
The company only gave into the demands after the strike where everyone completely stopped working.
SVEOD say in one of their articles: “on Wednesday 24/9 (at the motorbike demo) the company (efood) was paralysed for few hours, in the meantime, the people’s applause and the cheering in the streets during our motorbike turned the demo into a celebration.”
While the 115 workers managed not to get fired and renewed their 3 month contracts to permanent contracts, the company is still working on “the extermination of the employees and the rule of the “freelance” model” . They are no longer employing workers directly and all the new employees are now hired as freelancers or subcontracted.
And that’s not the only way they are trying to push workers to become freelancers. In May, the company announced a new system change whereby workers would no longer be able to choose their own shifts and forced them into becoming freelancers, stripping them of rights.
The struggle is global
When speaking to SVEOD during my visit to them, they pointed out to me that “the union is a necessity for what they want to achieve. Their actions are for a common purpose and not themselves, not even for just the union but for everyone out there, for each other. They have backed the actions, strikes and demos of many sectors that were struggling and try to make a stand for, make a change.”
Closing our discussion, we talk about their international participation and how their fight against the freelance regime is global and more specifically how they are organising globally with workers that are also subcontracted with Delivery Hero (efood) as most are here in Greece.
They have been demonstrating and showing their solidarity already with a Network of riders working for brands owned by Delivery Hero and under the hashtag #DeliveryHeroRidersUnited.
The initiative Delivery Hero Riders United was born by riders that felt the need to come together while all protesting for the same struggles. According to SVEOD:
“The past few weeks and months have seen several strikes and protests at various companies owned by Delivery Hero. For example at Foodpanda Hong Kong, Foodpanda Pakistan, Yemeksepeti in Turkey, Talabat (United Arab Emirates), efood (Greece) and Foodpanda Myanmar. Delivery Hero, with its headquarter in Berlin, usually sits out the efforts by workers. Consequently Foodpanda riders in Myanmar, with support of the International Confederation of Labor (ICL) Working Group Asia as well as external translators, kicked off efforts of connecting with fellow Delivery Hero riders worldwide.”
“And as exploitation knows no borders, we, the ants of this world, have common goals and nothing to stand between us or divide us.”
SVOED had also called for a common action on May 1st with the following rallying cry.
“Our struggles spring up globally like fountains of clear water and our common demand is clear: WE ARE NOT GOING TO LIVE AS SLAVES. And that is why we aim for a worldwide standstill on Sunday, May the 1st, 2022.”
“IT’S UTOPIAN TO BELIEVE THAT THINGS WILL NOT CHANGE”
Scroll down for photo reel ©Veronika Merkova
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