App delivery riders say they are paid as little as $6 an hour in Australia

Bicycle deliverers for UberEats, Foodora and Deliveroo have said they are paid as little as $6 an hour and called for better conditions and government regulation.

At a protest rally in Sydney, union officials said riders were being “flogged by technology” and workers described the high exposure to injury, low rates of pay and lack of workers compensation characteristic of the booming gig economy.

Workers for app-based delivery services like UberEats are classed as independent contractors rather than employees. They are given greater flexibility to choose when to work, but are not entitled to award wages, annual leave or insurance if injured.

Tony Sheldon, the national secretary of the Transport Workers Union, said three out of four riders were earning below the minimum wage and one cyclist a week was “doored” by a car while on the job, according to a recent union survey of more than 200 riders.

“These tech companies are being allowed to steal from hardworking people in this country,” he said. “Gig companies need to turn around and support the application of these workers to be deemed as employees”.

Patrick Psotka, who delivered in Melbourne for Deliveroo and UberEats, said a recent change to Deliveroo’s app meant some workers were earning $6 an hour.

“Just recently they changed the way we are able to log in,” he said. “It basically took away our freedom to work when we wanted, and required us to book in shifts each week.

“We used to be able to receive a minimum of two deliveries per hour – if we didn’t actually do the two deliveries an hour, we would still be paid for that. In this new system, we are no longer guaranteed any deliveries. So now we have riders who are sitting around waiting. Sometimes you’re sitting for three hours and getting one or two deliveries, which is well below minimum wage in Australia.”

Josh Klooger, who worked for Foodora in Melbourne as a manager, said he had also seen pay rates fall.

“They changed the contract from hourly pay to just $10 per order in October. I thought that was OK. But in February I learnt they dropped it down from $10 to $9 to $8 and then to $7. That was just too much to take.”

Klooger worked for Foodora for two years, and became a manager of new deliverers, but was sacked earlier this year.

He and the TWU have launched an unfair dismissal claim against Foodora. They claim Klooger was fired for speaking out about poor conditions, and for refusing to provide management with his correspondence with other employees.

Sheldon and the shadow minister for employment, Labor’s Brendan O’Connor, called on the federal government to intervene in the marketplace to protect workers.

“I want to make this very clear to Foodora and Deliveroo and Ubereats,” Sheldon said. “You can do the right thing and operate your business. We have companies in Melbourne that do courier work for parcels. They are profitable, they pay agreements above the award, they pay workers compensation”.

A TWU spokeswoman said a date had not been set for the first hearing of Klooger’s case.

On Tuesday, a Foodora spokeswoman told the Sydney Morning Herald a contractor’s employment could be terminated any time.

“There are no guarantees in terms of hourly wage, they have the freedom to work when and where they want, as much as they want,” she said.