Ten people, including a director of Uber operations in Italy, are being investigated for the alleged exploitation of migrant workers, as indicated by the The Guardian.
According to prosecutors, employees were “subject to degrading working conditions, were paid only three euros per trip”, and had their tips confiscated.
The case, which focuses on Uber Eats, prompted a Milan court to put Uber of Italy on ‘check’ last May for alleged exploitation of workers in delivery teams.
The prosecutors detailed that the officials were “extremely vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers from conflict zones, such as Mali, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Pakistan, Bangladesh”.
It is also alleged that an emigrant, who worked as a driver for a week in May, for a total of 68 hours, earned just 179.50 euros.
“My salary was always three euros per delivery, regardless of the day or time,” said a migrant to prosecutors, quoted by The Guardian.
According to the prosecutor who leads the investigation, Paolo Storari, drivers were also “stolen” from voluntary tips left by some customers. Some migrants were “punished” with an “arbitrary reduction in their compensation if they violated the terms of their agreement”.
Among the individuals to be investigated is the senior operations manager for Uber Italy, Gloria Bresciani. Among the ten people under investigation are senior figures from several unidentified intermediary companies that recruited migrant workers to Uber Italy.
According to the researchers, the first wave of covid-19 in Lombardy and the subsequent demand for home delivery of food resulted in an “uncontrolled avalanche of recruitment” of drivers.
Exploitation was exacerbated “by the health emergency, as a result of which the use of drivers increased progressively due to restrictions imposed on the free movement of individuals” during confinement.
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