Cyclists in France working for online food delivery groups have organised their first trade union to fight for better pay and job security, a labour group said on Thursday. The CGT trade union said it had created a new union in the western city of Bordeaux which would seek to represent around 700 bikers working locally for meal delivery platforms such as Deliveroo, Foodora or UberEats.
The initiative comes as a political debate rages in France about the quality of new jobs being created by companies such as Uber, whose drivers are mostly self-employed contractors with no job security. Online food platforms have proliferated world-wide, allowing people to order from their local restaurants via their mobile phones, with dishes delivered to their homes shortly afterwards, often by couriers in their 20s. Loic Notais from the new union, CGT 33, said that work conditions in Bordeaux had changed with riders now often paid per delivery, instead of an hourly rate. "The number of delivery riders has double or tripled. There's no longer enough work for everyone," he told AFP.