Uber Technologies Inc will begin offering an insurance package to its food delivery couriers in Europe, a move to address the conditions of “gig economy” workers.
Riders for food-delivery companies such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo are typically self-employed and the firms have come under fire for how they treat their workers.
Uber Eats yesterday said it would start offering all its couriers in Europe an insurance package with AXA SA, with coverage for personal accidents, cash benefits for hospitalization, property damage and cover for third-party injury.
“Uber Eats couriers can now enjoy the freedom and flexibility of working on their own schedule with the peace of mind provided by additional security and protection,” Uber Eats general manager for Europe Filip Nuytemans said.
Uber Eats currently operates in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK. The plan will be introduced on Jan. 8 next year, the company said.
The gig economy, where individuals work for multiple employers day-to-day without having a fixed contract, has expanded with the arrival of apps such as Uber and Deliveroo, who say their workers have full flexibility to work when they want and for how long they want.
However, companies in the gig economy come under fire from unions and politicians for what they call exploitative practices and riders for Deliveroo have gone to court in the UK to seek employment rights such as the minimum wage.
Two drivers for Uber’s ride-hailing app successfully argued at a tribunal in London that the San Francisco company had responsibilities in terms of workers’ rights.
The plan offered by Uber Eats is to reimburse couriers up to 7,500 euros (US$8,837) for medical expenses from an accident that results in hospitalization or 3,000 euros if the hospitalization is for three consecutive nights or more.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US