Labour rights issue at forefront of Spain’s gig economy with potential regulation

Delivery riders with backpacks of Glovo, Uber Eats and Deliveroo wait for orders at Universitat square in Barcelona. Spain aims to bolster protections for service sector workers typically hired on freelance basis by requiring employers to put them on staff contracts, government and union sources said. — Reuters

MADRID: Thousands of kilometres (miles) away from his native Venezuela, 48-year-old Nestor Perez died last month on the streets of Madrid when he was hit by a garbage truck while delivering a food order for Deliveroo.

Such tragedies have cast a spotlight on the precarious conditions of often immigrant workers in Spain’s gig economy at a time when the government, ahead of its European peers, is drafting legislation to regulate the sector.