Glovo's Italian arm to pay workers 40% more in deal with prosecutors

The Italian arm of Spanish ​food delivery service Glovo has agreed to ​hike its workers' pay ‌by 40% in ​a deal with Milan prosecutors who had placed it under court administration. The prosecutors in February ordered the unit, ‌called Foodinho, to "regularise" up to 40,000 delivery workers, known as "riders", and put its chief executive under investigation for alleged exploitation of workers.

Glovo, which is controlled by Germany's Delivery Hero said ‌in a statement it had worked with the prosecutors to agree on a ‌plan that would "reinforce its standards" in terms of its operations, organisation and controls. Once implemented, these steps "will lead to the end of the measure of court administration," the statement released on Tuesday said.

A judicial source ⁠told ​Reuters on Wednesday ⁠that under the deal Glovo had agreed to hike its riders' pay to at least 14 euros ($16.22) ⁠per hour compared with the 10 euros currently envisaged by a national contract for the sector. Neither ​the Glovo statement nor the judicial source made reference to the question ⁠of the regularisation of workers.

Thousands of Foodinho riders ply their trade in Milan and across Italy, using ⁠easily ​identifiable Glovo-branded yellow delivery bags. The document that placed Foodinho under judicial supervision in February said many delivery workers were paid below the poverty line, averaging 2.5 euros ⁠per delivery.

In some cases pay was more than 75% below the poverty threshold, according ⁠to the document, ⁠which included testimony from 39 migrant workers. The minimum subsistence level for workers in Italy is considered to be 1,245 euros a ‌month. ($1 = 0.8633 ‌euros)

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