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The international courier community has suffered another needless loss, as a bike courier died late on Saturday night during his shift in Barcelona. The courier, who was working for the food deliver company Glovo, was hit by a garbage truck and died instantly on the scene. The circumstances of the fatal accident are still being investigated by the local authorities.
We were informed about this tragic event by our colleagues and comrades from the Riders x Derechos courier union in Barcelona. We want to offer our condolances to the family and friends of our colleague.
Working in traffic is always risky, and that is why couriers, be they on bikes, mopeds or driving cars, absolutely need insurances, sick leave and security. There are things that none of the platform companies, such as Foodora, Wolt, Deliveroo, UberEats or Glovo offer to their couriers on whose work their businesses are based. Moreover, the low and piecemeal pay models of these companies are designed to make couriers work constantly longer and harder in order to scrape together even a small pay. In such conditions, accidents are bound to happen, and when they occur, the companies leave the couriers on their own devices.
This needs to stop now. In the last few months couriers have died at work in Italy, France, Russia and now in Barcelona as a result of accidents or over-work. The platform companies cannot go on circumventing labor legislation that was devised to avoid and minimise these unnecessary accidents.
We will continue until couriers have the workers’ rights they deserve. Glovo couriers have already begun demonstrating.
We mourn, but we organise too.