Self-employed couriers working with Bolt Food say the company’s decision to dismiss them was “completely unexpected” and unfair to Maltese and EU citizens.

Bolt sent an e-mail on Monday to its self-employed drivers, telling them that their agreements were being terminated in 30 days because the company has decided to only cooperate with couriers employed by agencies. 

The Estonian-based transport company provided no explanation for the decision, saying only that it was due to “business reasons”.

The drivers were informed that if they want to continue to work with the company, they must register as an employee of a work agency.

The change mostly affects Maltese and EU nationals as those working from outside the EU, known as third-country nationals, are typically hired through an agency.

One Gozitan courier said he would have to pay a fee of €75 to a work agency for them to register him to work for Bolt.

“That would add up to close to €3,000 a year. it just doesn’t make sense,” he said.

“All the self-employed drivers I know are angry by this change. A third-country national driver parked next to me earlier today and said I am a local but I’m being treated like a third-country national like him and it’s true.”

He said he also pays €400 insurance on his motorbike so he can use it for commercial use.

He added that many self-employed drivers feel helpless and want to understand the reasons behind the changes.

They come just two months after the government announced new employment rules to regulate digital platform workers and to remove the legal grey area around food delivery couriers.

“We want to know if this change is part of the new law or not.”

Parliamentary Secretary Andy Ellul has insisted that the decision was not a result of employment law amendments that guarantee digital platform workers a fixed wage, statutory bonuses, overtime pay and sick leave.

Another Gozitan courier said he was one of the first self-employed drivers to work with Bolt Food when it started in Gozo “and now they act like they don’t care about us”.

“I’ve been working as a food delivery driver with Bolt for nearly three years and this move was completely unexpected and truly unfair,” he said.

This move was completely unexpected and truly unfair

He said that, despite having another full-time job, he ends up working more hours as a Bolt driver and that around another 40 self-employed couriers in Gozo will be impacted by the change.

When asked if he would join a work agency to continue his employment with Bolt, he said it’s “not worth it”.

However, others are considering it.

A Maltese courier who has worked for Bolt Food in Gozo for the last two years said he panicked when he received the e-mail.

“It’s comfortable and I love the job, I am my own boss and I make up my hours,” he said.

He said he pockets €2,000 in a good month before taxes.

“Having said that, there are good days and bad days; there were days in summer I would work until 2am to make sure I make enough deliveries.”

He panicked when he received the termination e-mail since this is his full-time job, through which he pays his home loan and €400 a month rented car.

“I will try and apply with a work agency as I would like to continue working as a Bolt driver but if the conditions are not good, I suppose I will have to seek another job.”

He is also self-employed with Wolt, another food delivery service and hopes that it will not adopt the same changes.

He said he is glad that issues for third-country nationals are finally being addressed as everyone is “trying to make their daily bread”.

“Having said that, I expect that us locals are also taken care of,” he added.

“I feel that us food couriers, both self-employed and those employed through an agency, are not respected enough by the authorities. Our work is not taken seriously enough.”

One Hungarian courier driver started working with Bolt two years ago to help complement his other full-time employment salary.

He said the termination e-mail was a “total surprise and disappointment”.

“I felt an incredible lack of respect, after all, despite being just a self-employed, I always behaved like a ‘representative’ of the Bolt company,” he said.

He said he will not be applying to work with the company through an agency.

“It’s not fair for us, who are citizens of the European Union, who enjoy equal rights in the bloc, to have to work for a ‘middleman/agent’ and he takes a commission for his work,” he said.

“Imagine, a Maltese, in his own country, who cannot work on his own and directly for a platform like Bolt will have to ‘pay’ a fee to an agency.”

He said he believes the government is also “shooting itself in the foot” because, with a growing number of agencies located abroad, the money will not circulate in the Maltese economy but be sent to the host countries of the agencies.