“They tell you being a freelance is cool because you can decide when to work. But at the end, you realise you have to work when they ask you. At Glovo, if you don’t accept an order, you lose [points]”, says Núria Soto, who created the Spanish riders collective Riders X Derechos. Alongside lawyers collective Col·lectiu Ronda, Riders X Derechos has orchestrated several court cases in Barcelona arguing that gig economy companies rely on a system of exploitation and unfair penalties that violates workers’ basic rights – for instance by penalising workers for going on strikes, or not accepting an order. “I’ve only been scored badly twice, and I don’t know why,” explains Maracucho. “People don’t understand the implications of this for workers, but when I was scored badly I lost points and therefore working hours.”
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