Uber Eats

Have you ever seen people riding bicycles with large black and green square bags ? They are delivery workers for Uber Eats, which is a food delivery service operated by U.S.-based Uber Technologies. By using a smartphone app, customers are able to order meals from nearby restaurants, which are then delivered to a homes and other designated address. Unlike traditional food delivery, Uber Eats drivers are not restaurant employees but individuals recruited workers through Uber as intermediaries in the sharing economy.

Although presented as independent contractors, drivers face strict controls, low acceptance rates can lead to account suspension, delivery details and fees are unilaterally set by application owners, and drivers cannot negotiate at all. They are also excluded from workers’ compensation coverage. Given these conditions, Uber drivers may be considered as workers rather that being independent. These kind of problems have also been brought up in other countries which caused some countries like France to introduce legal protections for platform based workers. apa citation Smith, J. (2024, March 15). The legal status of gig workers in food delivery platforms.                                                                                             The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com