Uber Eats and Deliveroo are among the companies hit with the most allegations of migrant worker rights abuse in 2024, according to a report by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.
The food delivery companies were linked to three labour abuse cases each in the first half of 2024. The alleged incidents happened across the globe, BHRRC data showed.
Cases were most commonly related to irregular work patterns, unreasonable working hours and failure to earn a living wage, while in some cases workers said their mental health had suffered as a result of their employer.
Cases of abuse towards migrant workers is rife across the wider global food industry, the report found. Agriculture and fishing were among the sectors where the issue was more pervasive, with most cases occurring in the US (22), followed by the UK (14) and Canada (10). Workers from Mexico, Indonesia and India were identified as the most common victims.
Meanwhile, occupational health and safety violations were the most common form of abuse, followed by barriers in accessing remedy and wage theft.
“These figures provide a concerning snapshot of how migrant workers continue to be mistreated – while companies fail to investigate or remedy the uncovered abuse,” BHRRC said.
A spokeswoman for Deliveroo said the company was “committed to providing the flexible work riders value, along with attractive earnings and protections, such as sickness cover, insurance and training opportunities”.
“Rider retention rates are high and the overwhelming majority of riders tell us that they are satisfied working with us. We listen to riders and will always closely examine any issue raised,” she added.
Uber Eats has been approached for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.
The BHRRC report comes just days after a seperate investigation that found the number of migrant workers seeking help after being dismissed by UK farms has shot up this year. A total of 61 workers contacted civil society group the Worker Support Centre with dismissal-related issues between January and July 2024, The Grocer reported earlier this week.
Hotels and restaurants were also highlighted in the BHRRC report for links to workers’ rights abuse.
Between January and mid-June 2024, the BHRRC recorded 324 allegations of human rights abuse against migrant workers globally, linked to 224 identifiable companies from across all industries.
The UK was the most common destination country of the abuse cases (41 cases), followed by the US (40 cases), Saudi Arabia (20 cases), South Korea (18 cases), and India (18 cases).
Allegations were most commonly linked to companies headquartered in the US (66 cases), followed by the UK (35), Saudi Arabia (16), New Zealand (12), Australia (9), China (9), and India and Singapore (both 8).
BHRRC senior migrant rights researcher Isobel Archer said the organisation had hoped the challenges around labour abuse seen in 2023, including illegal and exploitative recruitment fee-charging and debt, would not persist into this year.
However, figures from the first half of the year “are already raising concerns as companies continue business-as-usual, allowing abuse to go unchecked”, she said.
“It is high time businesses recognise the consequence of their inaction and lack of safeguards,” Archer said. “Migrant workers are often the invisible glue holding the global economy together. Yet, instead of being recognised for their value, migrant workers are subjected to a range of human rights abuses – often facilitated by government regulations and permitted to continue by multinationals at the top of supply chains, who are failing to monitor, investigate and remedy abuse sufficiently.”
Archer added temporary workers were particularly vulnerable to labour rights abuse.
“Companies must realise it’s simply not enough to publish general labour rights policies;” she said. “They must recognise specific vulnerabilities and urgently respond to them by adopting tailored and migrant worker-centric risk assessment, due diligence and remedy processes.”
No comments yet