Walt's catch: the court's decision divides the apostles

The court approved a request for a class action against the company, arguing that its messengers should be recognized as employees.

The decision is made with mixed voices among the messengers, with some attacking it and others expressing support.

An expert explains: "One of the most important decisions in Israel and the world"

Uri Sela

03/08/2022

Wednesday, 03 August 2022, 12:34 Updated: 21:22

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Traffic violations, Volt messengers (green light)

Today (Wednesday), many emissaries of the Walt company are voicing mixed voices regarding the approval of the request to conduct a class action against the company, with some strongly attacking it and others expressing support.

The Tel Aviv Labor Court approved the request on the grounds that its messengers should be recognized as employees - and not as independent service providers.

"I think this could be a welcome step," said Walt's messenger from Tel Aviv.

Since he works for the shipping company in addition to another job, he announced that independence is convenient for him, but according to him, for those who Walt is his main source of income - "it is definitely more important and better".

Today, Volt couriers are forced to turn to external companies that organize the insurance and pension for them, and in many cases reap a large profit on their backs.

The same messenger says that beyond the basic social conditions that will be given, working as an employee, with a manager and a human assistant, "could be more organized and convenient. Right now the app is bothering you without geographic logic, and the times it sets are also often unrealistic in any way."

According to him, "This causes delays in deliveries and complaints from the customer, which in my opinion is also a main factor in the conduct of the couriers in the field - driving on sidewalks, crossing red lights with scooters and bicycles - to arrive in the unrealistic time that the app estimates."

Volt messengers (Photo: ShutterStock, ShutterStock)

"It's a disaster," claimed another messenger, 33 years old from Ramat Gan.

"They will simply lower the delivery payment to transfer money to things that I can deliver myself. Now we will have to work shifts, and apparently you can forget about working whenever you want and as much as you want. If I wanted to be an employee, I would work at Ten Bis. I didn't ask anyone for it, I just want Let them leave me alone."

More in Walla!

Class action: Will Walt be forced to recognize the couriers as company employees?

To the full article

"One of the most important decisions in Israel and in the world"

Dr. Lilach Luria, a senior lecturer in the department of labor studies at Tel Aviv University, said that this is "one of the most important decisions in Israel and in the world." According to her, "The status of the platform economy is the question that is being dealt with now.

In the world it's Uber, for us it's Volt.

We have been waiting for her for many years.

In my eyes, it is clear that they should be recognized as workers."

Luria explained that if the class action is accepted, the messengers will be entitled to vacation and sick days, travel expenses, pension insurance, which also protects against disability and residuals, and unemployment insurance in the National Insurance.

"It costs the employer 30-40% more," she said.

Regarding the concerns raised by the messengers, she says that "it is likely that Walt will lower the workers' wages because of the additional expenses, and that young people, who do not think long-term, will not want it. There is a psychological bias that we think mainly about the present. Similar statements were made in the ruling on the work of waiters, and the corona proved the Its importance. It is not certain that the flexibility of working hours will change, there are also employees who are employed in a flexible way, that will be Walt's decision."

The messengers who sued Walt also asked for financial refunds for the rights they did not receive.

"It should be noted that even if the court recognizes them as employees, this does not necessarily mean that they will receive all these amounts in retrospect," Luria clarifies, "since the employer can claim an offset:

Volt messengers in Tel Aviv (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Another courier from the central region said that "in practice you work for them and the only difference is that you decide when. I work without a pension or insurance, I took out an exempt dealer and that's it. There is accident insurance from Volt but it's a shame, it barely covers anything. It doesn't make sense that they work like this. There are people who work on errands for ten hours every day and this is their livelihood."

On the other hand, he says, "I wouldn't want to have less flexibility at work, and it sounds like I'll also get less money."

A significant decision

The court's decision from today is important because it casts light on the so-called "platform economy", the new economic model in which work is managed remotely through digital means and mostly with the help of an application developed for this purpose.

According to this model, the platform is actually used to connect the customers who connect through the application and order through it various services such as transportation, food and deliveries, the service is provided through the service providers available to provide the service for the customers.

The application for the management of the class action was submitted by the attorney office of Yaakov Spigelman, which represents in the proceedings Golan Hazanovich, one of the emissaries who worked for the company, who claims that an employer-employee relationship exists between the company and its emissaries.

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