Heatwave prompts Italy’s delivery riders to strike for extra rights

Delivery riders are to strike in several Italian cities on Wednesday, calling for better working conditions in the intense summer heat.

In Milan, city authorities have limited deliveries during the hottest hours of the day until September, and riders working for Glovo and Deliveroo are to halt work in the evening to call for measures to protect their wages as well as their health.

In Bologna, riders will switch off their apps and demonstrate in the centre of the city, and there will be a similar stoppage for several hours in Florence, where temperatures are set to hit 40C this week.

Italy is not the only European country where workers have called for better conditions during the heatwaves.

Research by the European Trade Union Institute suggests 130 million European workers are exposed to heat stress in the workplace each year.

A union in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia complained this week that protections for Glovo delivery riders under the company’s summer protocol were insufficient when temperatures were approaching 45C.

In France, teachers’ unions last month urged their members to exercise their right to strike where necessary, because of a series of complaints surrounding working conditions in classrooms and during school examinations.

Thousands of schools closed or changed their timetables in response to the high temperatures.