After the death of a bicycle delivery man last week in Lyon, the CGT denounces the competition between delivery men and their imposed status as auto-entrepreneurs. The platform specifies that it provides helmets at the request of delivery people.
“We are mad about bitumen!” If he is shocked by the death of his colleague, on the night of Tuesday April 4 to Wednesday April 5 in Lyon, Toufik is not surprised. This deliverer from the Deliveroo platform describes dangerous speeds to honor around twenty bicycle deliveries in one evening and thus earn a living. “There are no regulations and, by dint of working a lot of hours, we are exhausted. The fact of chaining races at three or four euros, we lose everything in health capital, vigilance… Everything!”
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Maël was seriously injured while working for the Just Eat platform which has since closed and made an exception by hiring on a permanent contract. “There’s a speeding motorist coming from behind and slammed into me. I did a glide, apparently that was huge and I fell back to the ground with my head hitting, remembers the former delivery man. I had a cardiac arrest. I stopped being a delivery man since then. Luckily, I had a helmet. If I didn’t have a helmet, I would have died.”
“It’s a very risky job. The question of rates is hellish because we are paid by the job. Either I earn nothing and I can’t eat, or I take all the risks.”
Maël, former delivery man in Lyonat franceinfo
The deliverers also denounce the maintenance of the bike, which is the responsibility of the person who drives it. The platforms don’t get involved. Accidents most often go under the radar, according to Ludovic Rioux, secretary general of the CGT deliveries of Lyon. They pass for simple road accidents, and not for accidents at work. This is due to the status of delivery people, a self-employed “imposed”.
“Social Security does not recognize accidents at work for the self-employed”
“We are outraged, angry, launches Ludovic Rioux. Outraged, because it’s always news that sends shivers down your spine. We have every year, almost every month, deaths in the profession. The working conditions are so degraded that it increases the pace. If there is an accident at work, for example, it is not 100% income that is covered, since Social Security does not recognize accidents at work for the self-employed. So it has very, very concrete consequences for the workers and it is very advantageous for the platforms”denounces the union official.
“In Lyon, we had already had a colleague who died in March 2021 and two years later, we see that nothing has changed.”
Ludovic Rioux, secretary general of the CGT of Lyon deliveriesat franceinfo
In response to our requests, Deliveroo “sends its sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of the victim” and specifies that it provides helmets and reflective accessories, if the delivery people ask for them. According to the platform, most of them remain committed to the flexibility of their business.
