Food delivery drivers have rejoiced at the news that the government is upgrading the law to guarantee them decent working conditions, but are calling on the authorities to keep an eye out on employers who seek loopholes to abuse the law.

The food couriers who recently opened up with Times of Malta about the abusive and inhumane working conditions they had to endure on the job, said the proposed laws are “a hopeful breath of fresh air”.

Many of them had left the job in desperation after they were clocking 80-hour weeks and not even managing a minimum wage. Others had to quit after they realised the recruitment agency that brought them here and employed them had made them sign a different contract that trapped them in a whirlpool of debt.

“After I heard the news I felt the urge to go back to being a delivery driver,” one former courier said.

“I’m so happy, can’t you hear it in my voice? I loved the job. It’s just that I couldn’t take it anymore. But the new laws should guarantee the dignity most of us didn’t have.”

The new laws seek to establish clear regulations for recruitment agencies and digital platforms to abide by when hiring workers. Currently, such work falls in a legal grey area.

One of the biggest hurdles was how to calculate work and assign monetary value to it. Since the Maltese law calculates work in hours and not tasks, some recruitment agencies were only paying their third-country national couriers per delivery and not per hour.

This meant couriers would spend most of their day waiting for orders to chime in on the Bolt or Wolt application and they would not be paid for that idle time.

'New laws will guarantee a fixed wage'

With the new laws, food delivery couriers and other digital platform workers will be guaranteed a fixed wage, receive statutory bonuses and get paid for overtime and sick leave.

First announced by Prime Minister Robert Abela earlier this month, the revamped legislative framework for such workers was presented in greater detail by junior minister Andy Ellul on Friday.

The new laws would require employers to provide workers with a clear employment contract and pay them in much the same way as a standard employee is paid.

That means workers would receive statutory bonuses, get paid for overtime and sick days, and receive double pay on rest days.

Employers will also be forbidden from charging workers for work-related items, such as clothes or equipment.

The proposed laws also place more stringent reporting obligations on digital platforms and recruitment agencies.

Zero-hour contracts, which allow employers to sack workers without any notice, will be banned except when the worker is a full-time student or workers are required to be on call.

Algorithms used to assign work must be passed on to the Department for Industrial and Employment Relations, as must information about workers engaged through agencies and their working hours.

Probation periods cannot be any longer than six months, with some exceptions, and work training must be offered for free. Workers will also be permitted to take on other jobs on the side, if they wish to do so.

Employers will be given a three-month grace period from when the laws are passed to adopt the new standards.

'Laws must be enforced'

But some couriers and recruitment agencies are also urging the authorities to enforce the laws by running frequent checks on employers who might be looking to abuse the loopholes.

They argued that a lot of the abuse up till now happened not because the law failed to cater for the industry but because some recruitment agencies were breaking existing laws without being held accountable for it.

“We didn’t need a new law to tell us that workers have a right to overtime pay and sick leave, for instance. That law has been there for as long as I can remember. Recruitment agencies were simply not abiding by it,” a payroll company top official explained.

“On the one hand we had couriers who have paid a fortune to uproot their life and come to Malta and are desperate to take the job. They are also some of the nicest people you will ever meet, so they are extremely agreeable. They will accept just about anything.

“On the other hand, we had authorities that were simply not clamping down on abuse. So, some recruitment agencies found they could abuse their workers quite easily. Because the workers had to accept it and the authorities were hardly doing anything about it.

“That’s why we feel with the new laws must come a new wave of enforcement. Because the employers who want to abuse the law will find a way to do it.”

The couriers also thanked the independent media for taking on the fight and supporting the cause for justice.

The issue was first flagged in 2021 in the outcome of an investigation by the Department of Industrial Relations (DIER).

It had concluded that platform workers were forced to work in conditions that are technically unlawful, with no provisions for sick leave, overtime or vacation leave. In many cases, workers had money deducted from their first pay cheques to pay for work clothes or equipment, the DIER found.

Food delivery, ride-sharing services have mushroomed

Food delivery and ride-sharing services have mushroomed in the past few years, with the vast majority of their public-facing workers being third-country nationals. The vast majority, however, are not employed directly by those platforms. Rather, they are hired by recruitment agencies that handle their immigration paperwork, with those agencies then contracting them out to the platforms.

Times of Malta had reported how, in some cases, workers were lured to Malta with promises of jobs paying decent wages, only to then find significantly worse conditions – and pay – once they arrived in the country.

Having already spent thousands of euro in application fees and flight tickets, and often locked into an employment contract, they are then unable to return home before they have paid off their debts.

In some cases, recruitment firms have even sued workers who quit, demanding thousands for breach of contract.

On Friday, Andy Ellul said the proposed new laws had been discussed “at length” with social partners.

The legislation would give platform workers “peace of mind,” he said.

“These laws send a clear message: that workers are and will continue to be a priority for this government,” he said.

The government proposals come as the European Commission works to introduce an EU-wide directive that would force member states like Malta to introduce such rights for platform workers.

Unveiled last December, the EU’s Platform Work Directive would give such workers the right to a minimum wage, paid leave, health and sickness protection as well as access to contributory old-age pensions, among other things.

The draft laws that local MPs will be asked to vote on reflect these EU-wide plans.

'Government following in PN's footsteps' - PN

In reaction to the news of the proposed laws, the Nationalist Party said it had already pushed for a change in the law weeks ago and the government is now simply echoing the Opposition after dragging its feet and refusing to take action on the issue for a long time.

"It was the PN that shed light on how this country needs to address various conditions and rights at the place of work, for both the employer and employees," said PN employment shadow minister Ivan Castillo.

"The Government continues to follow, echoing the initial proposals made by the Nationalist Party."

The PN had proposed that work contracts for platform workers include health and safety measures, bonuses and wages that are not below the minimum wage. It also called for the law to identify what makes a platform worker.

It also proposed abolishing zero-hour contracts and make contracts that have neither a minimum nor a maximum amount of hours illegal.

It also said recruitment agents who employ third country nationals should be regularised and operate with a license and called on the government to introduce penalties for those who do not adhere to the law.

It also proposed that JobsPlus monitors the contracting process and the contracts on a regular basis.

"The Nationalist Party will not stop consulting with stakeholders in relation to this law, as part of its campaign for better conditions and better rights for workers and employers, to ensure that what this law failed to take into account, is addressed," Castillo said.