Graffitti: Government legal notice failed to ban ‘parasitic recruitment agencies’

Moviment Graffitti have condemned the termination of contracts for dozens of self-employed couriers with company Bolt.

“Rather than acknowledging its self-employed workers as employees, which is what the government's legislation is meant to achieve, Bolt instead decided to force self-employed couriers to either work for exploitative recruitment agencies or otherwise end up jobless,” the NGO said.

A ‘bolt’ from the blue for couriers, they were left having to find a new job during the Christmas period or sign themselves up with a work agency.

Self-employed couriers were informed of the decision through email, explaining that anyone who would like to continue delivering on the Bolt Food platform will have to register as an employee of a work agency.

The decision to dismiss dozens of self-employed drivers occurred in the wake of the government's change in legislation in October. Although Bolt and the government themselves have not drawn any direct link between the change in legislation and the termination of dozens of self-employed contracts, it is evident that Bolt took the easy way out, according to the NGO.

“By failing to ban exploitative recruitment agencies from the sector, which are known to carry out practices like siphoning off half the drivers’ pay per delivery and withholding leave entitlement, as well as extracting heavy fees which leave drivers indebted, the government has allowed a loophole that is being exploited by Bolt to push out couriers who do not wish to work for agencies,” Moviment Graffitti said.

The NGO also slammed the decision by the company to not answer the media’s question about the business reasons which led to the decision.

“While the founders of the company will continue lobbying to water down European legislation meant to curb their unsustainable business practices throughout 2023, their self-employed drivers in Malta will suffer the direct results of their ‘disruptive’ growth model which fails to recognise drivers as employees,” it said.

“Bolt’s decision to solely source drivers from parasitic recruitment agencies who extract unjust fees from third-country nationals lured into working for them clearly shows where the company’s priorities lie.”

The NGO said they are concerned on the lax attitude adopted by government towards the extensively reported breaches of human and workers’ rights “committed by Bolt and the recruitment agencies which enable them, breaches which were bad enough to lead to a strike coordinated by hundreds of couriers back in July.”

“If the government still considers gig economy workers to be a priority, then it should directly prohibit couriers’ recruitment agencies, that have been allowed to work with impunity for years, from operating in the sector,” the NGO said.

READ ALSO: No help for self-employed couriers ‘laid off’ by Bolt as workers left scrambling