Union weighs in on Glovo row following death of unregistered rider

The death of a rider last Saturday who was carrying out an order for the on-demand delivery startup Glovo led to protests by couriers outside the firm's Barcelona HQ, and has now led a major union to formally demand an investigation into the company's employment practices.

The UGT trade union issued an official complaint on Thursday, asking local prosecutors to look into whether Glovo is violating workers' rights by failing to provide protection for its employees, including formal contracts or access to social security benefits.

“UGT believes that the company, Glovo, imposes on its workers, through deception and abuse of their vulnerable status, labour conditions and social security conditions that violate the protections afforded to them by law,” the union said in a statement.

Undocumented and unregistered

Nepalese national Pujan Koirala was killed in a collision with a garbage truck in Barcelona last Saturday while the 22-year old was substituting a registered Glovo courier. Koirala, who had only arrived in the country a few months earlier, had no work visa.

Koirala's tragic death led to dramatic scenes outside the app-based firm's headquarters, were Glovo couriers burnt their signature yellow boxes used for the deliveries, while flooding social media with the hashtags #glovonosmata #glovomata (“Glovo kills us,” “Glovo kills”).