‘Your pizza delivery guy has no protection’ – GWU boss denounces gig work

The secretary-general of the General Workers Union, Josef Bugeja, has called for a clear set of rules that can protect food delivery drivers and ‘gig work’ taxi drivers who are carrying out services without being formally employed. 

In an interview with MaltaToday, Bugeja also said Malta needs a stronger integration policy that recognises all workers – be they Maltese or non-Maltese – as equal. 

“Let me be clear about this – for us, any employee is equal. Race, gender, religious belief… none of that makes a difference to us. Be they third-country nationals, Europeans, Maltese… they all have to be treated the same. 

GWU secretary-general Josef Bugeja

“But if there is something we need to work on more in this country, it is integration... many think it means we’d have to remove religious symbols from public places. No, it doesn’t mean that at all. It means mutual, reciprocal respect. And I think that the government is not doing enough to push forward that concept.” 

Bugeja refused to be brought into the debate as to whether Prime Minister Robert Abela impolitical remarks about Malta being ‘full up’ during the COVID-19 pandemic. But he conceded that Malta’s detention services were struggling with the containment of irregular migrants rescued at sea. 

“The situation is, to be honest, deplorable... AFM and Detention Services employees have complained about being threatened, assaulted, having their cars set of fire... So the problem is there; it cannot be denied. But in the country as a whole; that’s a different story.” 

Bugeja insisted it was undeniable that foreign labour is required to fill certain jobs and positions. “We talk (rightly) about ‘social mobility’: Maltese workers are seeking better jobs, better conditions, and moving up the employment ladder. But those jobs they are leaving, still have to be done by somebody. So it is useless saying: ‘we need foreign workers… but not those foreign workers’. It’s not a pick and choose situation…” 

Bugeja even went as far saying that the GWU, which in the 1990s ended its fusion with the Labour Party, is not aligned with Labour’s discourse on migration. “Immigration is a case in point. On these issues, I am bound by the policies and statute of the GWU: and this means that all workers – regardless who they are, or where they come from – have to be treated the same.” 

Bugeja said the COVID-19 pandemic had seen the rise of new categories of workers, such as platform workers who service companies offering digital interfaces between consumers and businesses, such as food delivery workers. 

He said the GWU wants clear parameters binding both employer and employees. “Because in their case… there aren’t ‘two sides’. The restaurant hiring their services do not regard those people as employees. They simply ‘buy’ the service they provide: without any contractual obligations. Nor are they paid a salary; they take a commission on the sale. 

“But if we are going to remove the contractual relationship that exists between employer and employee… we will end up in a situation where there is no regulation or control at all… Aren’t we already there, though? You said yourself that there are no two sides, in this equation… Yes, you could say that.” 

“Between the price of the car; the cost of fuel; wear and tear; insurance, etc… to earn €200, he has to work 100 hours. That’s how the situation has become”

Bugeja said he had spoken to a platform-working taxi-driver – “and I use the word loosely, as in reality he chauffeurs passengers in his own car” who showed him his accounts. “Between the price of the car; the cost of fuel; wear and tear; insurance, etc… to earn €200, he has to work 100 hours. That’s how the situation has become” 

He said the GWU wants to unionise these workers but there are difficulties. “In the food delivery sector, in particular, most of the workers – and we only have a vague idea of how many there actually are – are third-country nationals [non-EU]. This is not a problem for us: we will protect them all the same.” 

But under Malta’s laws, third-country nationals are not allowed to register as ‘self-employed’. And the single-work permit system requires that they need to have an employer, who applies for the permit on your behalf. 

“So if a third country national delivers me a pizza: in practice, there is no doubt he is self-employed – in the sense that no one’s employing him – but… how can he also be registered? The reality is that: he can’t. This is why we are demanding a reform of legislation – both at local and European level – regulating the so-called gig economy. 

“At present, the situation is that one person provides a service, and another pays for it… with an ‘app’ acting as an interlocutor between them. We say ‘no’ to that. These people have to be regarded as employees, and be given all the protection, benefits and conditions that go with employment.”