At the end of January, the British startup Just Eat announced its intention to hire 4,500 delivery people on permanent contracts in some thirty French cities by the end of the year. A daring proposal that comes at the right time in a sector shaken by the glaring lack of financial and social security offered to delivery people. But behind this communication, is the startup really responding to the demands of bicycle couriers?
A good marketing plan to enter the market
Announcement in the newspapers, presentation of the project on television: Just Eat carried out a great communication campaign at the beginning of February, claiming to be an actor respectful of delivery people in the face of competitors dragged to court. Remember that until its takeover last year by the Dutch Takeaway, Just Eat did not act as a classic delivery platform like Deliveroo or Uber Eats. ” The delivery people dealt directly with the restaurants, Just Eat did not work via a platform ” details Jérôme Pimot, founder of Clap, the collective of autonomous delivery people in Paris.
To establish itself as a platform that matters in France, the company has decided to take its competitors from the back. ” With wage labor, they found an ideal axis of awareness to penetrate the market under the face of a white or rather orange knight in this case ”, Jérôme Pimot analyzes. Choosing a salaried worker would thus be a way of avoiding legal action. It must be said that several cases have already been taken to court. In February 2020, Deliveroo was convicted for the first time for covert work. On November 25, several Lyon delivery men filed requests to reclassify their relationship with Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Stuart, in an employment contract, before the Prud’hommes. And very recently, at the end of January, 66 ex-Frichti delivery men attacked the platform for the same reasons.
Doubts about the value proposition
The British startup will offer contracts between 15 and 35 hours paid 10.30 euros per hour, a few cents more than the minimum wage. ” We are in the restaurant business, I wonder how we can do full time with this system ” , asks Jérôme Pimot who fears that next to some 35 hours, “ on ends up with temporary and therefore unsecured contracts as is the case in Germany, once the media hit has passed. ”
Not to mention the 1,500 euros in monthly income announced by Just Eat ” take into account the premiums, but these can be reduced or eliminated if there are too many deliverers ”, explains Jérémy Wick, Deliveroo delivery man in Bordeaux and member of a delivery union, who adds that these are already granted according to somewhat vague criteria.
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Finally, this ad asks more questions than it answers. ” There is too little information on the conditions that will actually be offered to deliverers. This will also have a cost for the company, much higher than what it pays today, without forgetting the issue of training and development of delivery people ” , remark Benjamin Nogues, CMO of Coursiers.fr. If Just Eat promises not to increase prices on the customer side, the question will arise for restaurateurs who could see the startup’s commission increase soon.
The illusion of independence
By questioning the various market players, the employees would therefore tick a few boxes for the stability of delivery people. ” There is a large part of delivery men who would like to obtain this status and another who refuses on principle but if we explain to them what it will bring them, I think that a certain number would accept ” , considers for his part Jérémy Wick. Because the independence promised to auto-entrepreneurs clearly no longer exists.
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« There are so many of us now that we have to work every day, at noon and in the evening, to generate a minimum of turnover. “ The new system offered by Deliveroo, free connection, increases competition. ” We can connect when we want, it gives an illusion of freedom, but the recruitment of many delivery people means that we have to work all the time. Not to mention the orange smileys that alert us if we don’t deliver quickly enough ” , regrets Jérémy Wick.
The rights of delivery people on the government table
In reality, Jérôme Pimot and Jérémy Wick are calling for a reform of the rights of the independent. The subject of delivery people already seems to be on the government’s table. The Minister of Labor, Elisabeth Borne, launched in January a consultation mission on the social and legal status of the self-employed working for web platforms such as Uber, Uber Eats and Deliveroo. Its members – Bruno Mettling, Pauline Trequesser and Mathias Dufour – seem to “ attentive enough to our demands ” , recognizes the president of Clap who nevertheless regrets that “he regulatory authority announced to monitor this issue is not a real gendarme but only an advisory body from which platforms will be able to evade. “
The European Union is also trying to get a grip on the subject, which worries President de Clap who fears that theDecisions are not taken by policies likely to lend an attentive ear to the lobbying of Uber & co. The risk ? ” Unhe decision which would give only crumbs of social protection to the self-employed “.
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