In the coming months, Spain is set to approve a trailblazing new law enshrining the labour rights of Spain’s estimated 8,000 delivery riders. In what could set a precedent for other European countries, the law will declare that gig economy riders are wage labourers, and force delivery app companies to open up their algorithmic black boxes to explain to their riders what variables they are using to determine their in-app scores. The labour unions fighting for Spain’s overworked and poorly treated delivery riders see this as a victory. But some worry that the law could have unintended consequences for the many riders who, like José Maracucho, do not have a work permit.
When Maracucho arrived in Barcelona from Venezuela in February 2020, aged 19, he heard that the fastest way to find a job was working as a rider for Spanish delivery startup Glovo. He didn’t have the necessary papers to work, but he found a Spanish local who rented him his Glovo account to work. He got a bike and started delivering almost immediately. “I started working with Glovo because it’s the easiest thing you can get when you arrive without documents,” Maracucho says. With the rented account, Maracucho could work as many hours as he wished, but he had to pay 30 percent of his earnings to the man he rented it from. The account’s owner also rented it to four more people, so that this particular Glovo account was constantly delivering orders.
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