A Spanish courtroom has dominated that Amazon should compensate self-employed couriers who used their very own autos for deliveries, a transfer welcomed by a labour union that has criticised employee situations within the “gig economic system”.
The Madrid labour courtroom stated that the tech big must pay Social Security contributions for the two,166 individuals it employed below the guise of exterior contractors throughout the now-defunct “Amazon Flex” scheme and recognise them as common employees throughout the intervals they made deliveries.
It didn’t present the entire to be paid.
Amazon scrapped the Flex programme in Spain final yr, after a 2020 Supreme Court ruling pressured firms to rent freelance couriers as employees, and the federal government launched a pioneering legislation to the identical impact in 2021.
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“Amazon is an organization that isn’t solely a logistics and transport operator, but additionally a courier and messenger service supplier,” the choose stated.
The corporate has repeatedly argued that it’s not within the transportation enterprise. It didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the ruling, which is topic to attraction.
In response to the courtroom, Amazon made all choices associated to the service, together with schedules, geographic distribution and remuneration – and used an app to direct and coordinate the couriers, who “lacked their very own and autonomous enterprise organisation”.
“This ruling is considered one of dozens that ratify that the gig-economy mannequin utilized by digital platforms is a large fraud,” Ruben Ranz, a spokesperson for commerce union UGT, instructed Reuters on Friday.
“We’re pleased with the outcome, and particularly completely happy that this Amazon Flex mannequin now not exists,” Ranz added.
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