The International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines decent work as a comprehensive concept that reflects the core aspirations individuals have in relation to their employment. It encompasses various key elements, such as ensuring access to productive and fairly compensated work, maintaining workplace safety and providing social protection to all individuals. Decent work also entails creating opportunities for personal growth, fostering social integration, promoting freedom of expression and workers’ right to organize, and upholding equal opportunities and treatment for all genders.
These principles face significant challenges in the platform economy, where delivery workers are frequently classified as independent contractors rather than employees by the companies they work for. This classification enables companies to evade their responsibility to provide social protection and employment benefits. Delivery platforms often establish contractual policies that fail to guarantee a minimum wage or regular working hours, resulting in unstable and unpredictable income for delivery drivers. Moreover, many delivery workers are migrants or individuals in precarious employment, who may lack awareness of their rights or hesitate to assert them due to their vulnerable worker status.
There is also a lack of clear regulation for delivery platform workers in the majority of Arab countries, which can make it difficult to enforce existing labour laws and set up new protection arrangements.
Delivery Workers: Precarious Employment and the Perils They Face:
It all revolves around earning a livelihood; equipped with a bicycle or motorcycle and a smartphone, delivery drivers cover hundreds of kilometres each day to fulfil as many orders as possible and secure a meagre income. Promised guaranteed profits and professional independence, they find themselves ensnared in relentless pressure, trapped in instability, and exposed to significant risks. Their occupation allows no room for delays or rest; to secure the bare minimum for a dignified life, they must brave every danger to deliver as many orders as possible. Regardless of rain, wind, or scorching heat, delivery drivers are bound to roam the roads, vulnerable and unprotected.
They toil day in and day out, uncertain of what lies ahead. Should an accident befall them on the road, they would be abandoned by the platforms that employ them, left to shoulder the burden of medical expenses themselves. They tirelessly deliver meals, clothing, medications, electronics, gadgets, furniture, and luxury items—possessions they themselves can only dream of owning. They represent the stark reality of social injustice unfolding in a world enamoured with new technologies and artificial intelligence, a world that threatens to erode our emotional intelligence.
Deprived of their legal rights, delivery drivers are also mistreated by their customers, who make them wait for hours and deny them access to the toilets, as one delivery driver in Cairo testified. In a long and moving post published on social networks, the delivery driver listed the mistreatment he and his colleagues have suffered at the hands of the managers of the restaurants from which they pick up their orders. Some force them to wait outside for the order, while others prevent them from plugging in their phones while the order is being prepared, even though they know that it is their main working tool. If it is not the restaurant, it is the customer who gives the delivery driver an unpleasant reception. One Moroccan delivery driver, aged over 60, lost his job because a customer wanted to force him to climb 7 floors to receive his delivery.
Mohamed Massmouli, spokesman for the Groupement tunisien des travailleurs des services de livraison1, added in an interview with Monte Carlo Doualiya radio that, in addition to all this ill-treatment, delivery drivers are at daily risk of having their motorbikes or bicycles stolen, as well as being exposed to the risk of road accidents. He says that “in Tunisia, there are around 600,000 people working in this sector, all of whom are exploited, deprived of all their rights and without the benefit of any law to protect them, given that no legislative framework has been devoted to them”.
In 2015, Jordan was hit by a major snowstorm after which the General Directorate of Public Security called on citizens not to leave their homes. Forced to continue working, the young Mohamed Abu Khdeir (23 years old) went out to deliver an order. He never reached his destination as he died in a road accident. Although the case caused a stir in public opinion at the time, no concrete action was taken.
Trade Union Organizations and Social Security: Assessing the State of Fundamental Rights
By 2022, a number of studies and reports have revealed that five of the world’s ten largest companies are platforms, namely Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Amazon and Meta Platforms (Facebook), with a market value of almost US$6.5 trillion. This observation suggests that not only are the number of platforms increasing, but also their market value. Online platforms are growing rapidly and are having an increasingly significant impact on organisation and working conditions. However, the lack of legally binding definitions for platform activities and work provision is leading to further fragmentation of the labour market.
In many countries in the Arab region, platform delivery workers are in fact considered to be self-employed rather than employees, which means that they do not enjoy the same rights and protections as salaried workers, such as the right to a minimum wage, social protection and
collective bargaining. This allows the platforms to reduce their costs and their social responsibility. In addition, delivery workers on platforms often face precarious working conditions, with unpredictable working hours, low pay and safety risks. Many delivery drivers work long hours to earn enough money to support themselves and their families.
While certain countries have initiated efforts to enhance the conditions of delivery drivers, progress remains uneven. For instance, Egypt enacted a law in 2020 to regulate self-employed workers, including platform delivery drivers, thereby granting them specific rights such as access to health insurance and retirement pensions. Nonetheless, the effective enforcement of these regulations continues to pose challenges in numerous countries across the region.
In Tunisia, delivery drivers have taken the initiative to organize themselves with the aim of establishing a union that can advocate for their rights and effectively communicate their concerns to the authorities, urging them to take action by implementing a dedicated legislative framework for this profession. Mohamed Massmouli highlights that although platforms contribute to reducing unemployment rates, particularly among the youth, they provide no assurances or safeguards for delivery drivers, who receive a meagre payment of 2,200 dt ($0.76) per delivery.
Bahrain has recently implemented measures to enhance the working conditions of delivery drivers. In January 2021, the Bahraini government announced the implementation of a comprehensive set of measures aimed at safeguarding the rights of self-employed workers, including delivery drivers. These measures entail the mandatory provision of health insurance by companies for self-employed workers, along with provisions for paid vacation and overtime compensation. Furthermore, self-employed workers are granted the right to unite and establish trade unions to advocate for the protection of their rights.
Although the Moroccan government has not implemented specific measures dedicated to the protection of delivery workers, it has taken broader measures to safeguard the rights of self-employed individuals. These efforts include the enactment of Law 103-13 on self-employed workers, which aims to provide social protection and medical coverage to these workers. Additionally, the law mandates that companies offer employment contracts to self-employed workers, ensuring them entitlements such as annual leave and overtime compensation. These measures constitute a significant step toward enhancing the rights and welfare of self-employed individuals, although specific measures targeting delivery workers are yet to be implemented.
These measures are still insufficient in the face of the reality of delivery workers who risk their lives to be able to provide for their families. Arab governments must undertake comprehensive efforts to improve the daily lives of the numerous individuals employed in this sector. This is especially crucial considering that migrant workers and women constitute a significant portion of the platform workforce, and the influence of platform-based work extends to various sectors such as caregiving, cleaning, and domestic work. The first essential step is to acknowledge that platform work is intricately linked to ethnic and gender disparities within labour markets. Recognizing this connection is vital not only for formulating policies that ensure equitable working conditions for all workers, regardless of their origin, ethnicity, or gender but also for promoting inclusive collective representation by amplifying the voices of workers from diverse groups and backgrounds. Trade unions, in particular, hold a central role in fostering such social dialogue and advocating for these principles.
