WOLT delivery drivers: Labor violations confirmed, fines to be imposed

Following interviews with 94 deliverymen working for an online platform, the director of the Labour Relations Department of the Labour Ministry, Antis Apostolou, said on Wednesday that violations relating to undeclared work and non-licensing to employ third-country nationals have in some cases come to light. Recently, the distributors mobilized to protest their working conditions.

Apostolou specifically stated that the investigation's preliminary findings showed three cases of undeclared work out of 94 total cases, and that two of the companies employing the distributors lacked a special permit to hire people from other countries.

According to Apostolou, the majority of the investigation has been finished, and a new investigation is underway to determine whether those who had contracts were actually receiving the salary specified in those contracts and whether all conditions had been met. He continued that nothing up to this point had shown that they were receiving compensation outside of what was specified in those contracts.

Apostolou noted that the law will be followed when imposing fines where violations have occurred.

You may recall that yesterday, under the supervision of the Department of Industrial Relations, the unions and the employer side began a cycle of intensive consultations with the goal of reaching an agreement on the working conditions of distributors on online platforms by the end of January 2023. The distributors unanimously decided to call off their strike after nine days of mobilization following the decision to begin the dialogue.