Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1332685
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 JANUARY 2021 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 A senior government source spoke of well-founded suspi- cions of precarious employ- ment, that has driven down food supply wages and delivery costs for platform companies such as Wolt and Bolt, with al- most all workers are working up to 80 hours to earn just 50% of the expected monthly salary: €1,500 or even less. Migrant workers zipping around the island on their scooters are over-worked, un- derpaid, lacking ordinary work- ers' rights, denied overtime, and treated liked self-employed contractors in breach of Mal- tese laws. "It is a dark picture of the growth of platform work dur- ing the COVID-19 pandemic, and it shows food couriers are being engaged as self-employed individuals," the source said, citing a breach of multiple em- ployment laws. It could mean that agreements with service providers to pay food couriers according to what they deliver of the distance they cover, are not valid contracts of employment. According to the govern- ment source, employees could be working some 60-70 hours weekly and taking back just €1,500 when they would have earned close to double that in payments, but then splitting it with their recruitment compa- ny. Recruitment agencies enjoy- ing partnerships with Bolt and Wolt are effectively benefiting from exactly 50% of the wages earned by food couriers, most of whom are third-country na- tionals hailing from South-East Asia, and are not paid vacation and sick leave, or government bonuses. The only constant is that a majority of recruitment agen- cies split the money generated by the courier at a 50:50 ratio – half is given to the courier as in- come, the other half is retained by the recruitment agency. On the other hand, some earn an hourly rate regardless of deliv- eries carried out. A regular delivery raked in around €5.35 for a self-em- ployed courier working directly under Bolt or Wolt, but a couri- er employed through a recruit- ment agency might make just €2.70 for that same delivery. Procuring the company jacket and bag was another irregular- ity across agencies: some cou- riers report having received all the equipment for free, but oth- ers reported paying a deposit or having the cost deducted from their first payment. Several couriers actually re- port paying thousands in re- cruitment fees to find a job in Malta. One courier who spoke to MaltaToday claimed they had paid €5,000 to a Maltese recruitment company over and above the expenses associated with obtaining a visa and work permit, just to secure a job with Bolt. The fee doesn't cover equipment or visa application costs – it's simply a mark-up charged to workers so that em- ployment can be secured. Charging inflated recruitment fees is also a widespread prac- tice. In the same way that food delivery companies pass on the costs of delivery services to em- ployees, these agencies trans- ferred the costs associated with recruitment to workers them- selves. Such high recruitment fees were forcing workers into a state of vulnerability, leading many migrant workers to sell their assets or borrow from money-lenders or friends and family in order to finance an employment opportunity. Malta's Employment Rela- tions Act stipulates that an em- ployer cannot make any deduc- tions through any contractual agreement from the wages that ought to be paid to the employ- ee. And recruitment agencies are no exception. According to the Temporary Agency Workers Regulations, temporary agen- cies cannot demand payment or charges on any temporary agency worker, and no deduc- tions shall be taken from the wages of such workers. MaltaToday was told that agencies stipulate a weekly in- come target that couriers must reach. For RecruitGiant, the largest Bolt partner, the target stands at €450 per week, but repercussions were not severe if the goal isn't reached. Failing to reach the mark warrants a call from the company to check why it wasn't reached and to see if everything is okay. A courier who spoke with MaltaToday estimated that there were roughly 100 couriers working with Bolt through Re- cruitGiant, while around 30-50 are employed under WT Global Ltd and carry out food delivery services for Bolt. WT Global enjoys a partner- ship with Wolt too. Most cou- riers earn 50% of the amount they generate, but the wage and method of payment varies between each courier. Some re- port earning €5 or €7 an hour, others say they earn €800 per month, but the majority only retain 50%. Workers are also provided with €150 for fuel. In the past, Josef Bugeja from the General Workers' Union has said that so-called "applica- tion workers" will become the new labour slaves. "This is a new world of gig work, where an application serves as a contract of ser- vice. The problem is that these workers don't have employ- ment conditions whatsoever. There is no contract binding them, only an application. "You can hardly call them self-employed – at least when you're self-employed you can have certain benefits or sick leave through a contract of ser- vice." "It is a dark picture of the growth of platform work during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it shows food couriers are being engaged as self-employed individuals" Couriers could be working up to 60 hours a week and splitting earnings with agencies Procuring the company jacket and bag was another irregularity across agencies: some couriers report having received all the equipment for free, but others reported paying a deposit or having the cost deducted from their first payment