A Glasgow Just Eat driver claims he's been unfairly sacked by an online app.
Thomas Mehari is understood to be among hundreds of workers whose accounts have been deactivated by a digital service that allocates work.
The 32-year-old delivered for the fast food giant for five years when he received an email telling his account had been removed, the Daily Record reports.
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He said: “I was devastated because I could not explain myself and my job had been taken away. I think it’s a really bad way to treat people and really unfair. I feel very upset and frustrated that I cannot even argue my case.”
Thomas admits he had received a warning for using third party app Shift Grabber to automatically reserve work, but says he stopped immediately.
He added: “I worked with Just Eat for five years and they just terminated me in a second and that was it. I used the Shift Grabber app, which is legal, because everyone else was. But I deleted it after I got a warning.‘
"The next thing I knew was an email arriving saying I was deactivated."
Like many other deactivated drivers, Thomas is now trying to get a private hire cab licence.
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Anne McLaughlin, MP for Glasgow North East, said: “I find the way Just Eat couriers are being routinely dismissed and deactivated, essentially by a machine, completely unfair and unjust. There is a cost of living crisis and people are doing their best just to get by, Just Eat are robbing people of their livelihood at a time when they really need that income.”
Couriers are not regarded as employees meaning they have few employment rights.
The App Drivers and Couriers Union claims delivery companies deliberately use many more drivers than they need - then can terminate whoever they like at no cost to the business.
Reasons for deactivation include:
•Drivers moving outside restaurants like McDonald to await deliveries (often at the restaurant’s request). Many claim to have been falsely accused of fraud, as a GPS tracker tells Just eat they have left the job.
•Couriers forgetting to input an update on a job - like starting, leaving, delivering etc. These simple errors can allegedly lead to fraud accusations and summary deactivation.
•Using third party software like Shift Grabber to automatically reserve shifts. These have resulted in warnings that advanced to permanent deactivation without any further discussion.
James Farrar, General Secretary of the ADCU, said hundreds of drivers have been affected, mainly sacked by computer programmes that analyse GPS locational services and other data.
He said: “This is a horror show. We have witnessed the growth of a massive work environment where people are being treated like numbers, and like commodities that can be discarded at will.
“They will wake up one morning and find out they have been deactivated summarily, with no procedure and no redress. We believe there is a 40 per cent over supply of drivers and couriers across the board and this is immoral, as it’s a no-lose for the big companies that control everything.
“They can effectively secure the services of a courier, who must compete with others for the shifts. They suffer undue stress yet the company has no outlay and no risk in having a massive, excess workforce on stand-by to generate profit for them.
“This has led to many people using apps like Shift Grabber, which subsequently results in a warning being issued by Just Eat.
“In many instances, with no further action or investigation, this is followed by deactivation from the app, which can be catastrophic to any person relying on it for work.”
A Just Eat spokesperson said the company would investigate the claims made in the Record.
The spokesperson said: “We take any concerns raised by couriers on our network seriously and will investigate and take action as needed if a courier feels they have been wrongly deactivated.
"At Just Eat, it is important to ensure fairness for all couriers delivering on our behalf.
“This is why we have measures and systems in place to identify and stop fraudulent activity on our platform and when couriers have breached the terms of their courier service agreement."
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