Delivery company Wolt on Tuesday said that t it will employ about 100 couriers under employment contracts on trial basis.
The company planned to start the employment contracts in the Helsinki metropolitan area at the initial stage.
Earlier in May this year, the Supreme Administrative Court (KHO) ruled that food couriers are employees, not independent entrepreneurs.
In September, Wolt decided to appeal against the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court.
Meanwhile, Service Union United (Palvelualojen ammattiliitto-PAM) criticised the decision of employing only the few number of couriers keeping the remaining 6,000 couriers in insecure positions.
According to PAM President Annika Rönni-Sällinen, Wolt and other platform companies must apply the court’s decision to all of their couriers, said PAM in a press release on Tuesday.
“It’s positive that Wolt will hire some couriers as employees and thereby follow the KHO ruling for this group of a hundred. But around 98 percent of the company’s couriers would still be left without the protection of employment. The ruling must be applied to all Wolt couriers — otherwise, the whole arrangement seems like whitewashing and double standards,” said Rönni-Sällinen in the press release.
Couriers employed by Wolt will have statutory protection against dismissal, protection from unilateral changes to pay, and the right to holiday compensation and sick pay, said PAM, adding all of these are lacking for couriers treated as independent contractors.
As an employer, Wolt must also pay all employer contributions — including pension and social security payments — and provide work equipment to employed couriers.
“It’s unfair that only a small group of couriers receive the basic rights of working life while the rest are left in uncertainty,” said Papy Nkunda, Chair of PAM Couriers Finland, the couriers’ branch of PAM.
Wolt also stated on Tuesday that it aims to reach a collective agreement with PAM. PAM and PAM Couriers Finland negotiated with Wolt for more than a year during 2023–2024 about the working conditions of couriers.
However, in December 2024 PAM suspended the negotiations because Wolt’s proposed pay levels would not have genuinely improved the couriers’ situation.
According to PAM’s Head of Collective Bargaining Juha Ojala, PAM is ready to negotiate a collective agreement for employed couriers.
- Wolt
- Employs
- 100
- Couriers
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
