For about a year during the pandemic, Marco made a living cycling up and down the cobbled streets of Rieti in Italy, delivering meals for Spanish app company Glovo. Then all of a sudden, his orders dried up.
Marco is one of about a dozen Rieti riders who lost their incomes because of third-party apps that subvert the booking systems of delivery platforms like Glovo ¡ª letting gig workers pay to book jobs, union leaders said.
¡°These apps have created a digital wild west, pitting low-paid workers against one another,¡± said Mario Grasso, a spokesman for Italy¡¯s UILTuCS trade union.
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