Tsipras pledges ELAS bill on delivery riders' labour rights after efood meeting

The meeting in Zografou

On Thursday, 29 October, Alexis Tsipras met delivery workers from efood at the Architektoniki venue in Zografou, Athens, for about two and a half hours. The session was prepared by Dionysis Temponeras, the labour sector head of ELAS, who is also a labour lawyer. In a Facebook post, Tsipras presented delivery work as high-risk and precarious, and linked everyday service to the need to protect workers' lives, health and rights. The discussion covered intensified work, employment conditions and the problems riders face with platforms and food outlets.

Five proposals to be drafted

Tsipras said ELAS had committed to prepare its first bill on the labour rights of the modern precariat, starting with the delivery sector. In his post he said the law would provide for five measures. These are transparency and oversight of the platform algorithms that influence order allocation, hiring, firing and worker evaluation, and the option to establish a presumption of dependent employment on delivery platforms. The proposals also call for the abolition of contractors and contracted workers, with direct hiring exclusively by the platforms, the full restoration of collective agreement protections, and health and safety measures including coverage for workplace accidents.

Tsipras stated that riders are not covered by existing law.

“These people are not protected by the legislation.”

Criticism of the government and the EU deadline

Tsipras accused the government led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis of leaving outside the national framework rights that the European directive secures, through what he called the Hatzidakis law. He said this served the two large platform companies and the contractors who, in his words, often shape conditions of labour in the Middle Ages. In the same post he summed up the approach with a line about the phrase riders hear every day.

“We often hear "the kid has left" to bring the order, but nobody adds "playing their life heads or tails".”

The debate comes as the deadline for transposing EU Directive 2024/2831 on platform work approaches. Member states must bring it into national law by 2 December 2026. The directive sets out measures for correctly establishing the employment relationship and rules for managing workers through automated systems.

Political backdrop and next steps

The meeting also has a political dimension. Reporting published on 30 October says ELAS's polling has stalled over the past month, and the party aims to reopen the gap with PASOK so that its second place looks secure. Two close aides accompanied Tsipras at the meeting, a move that, according to the same reporting, sends a clear message inside and outside the party. The reporting adds that Tsipras plans a political event by early next year, aimed at progressive forces of the Left and the Centre.

The articles give no date for tabling the delivery bill. What is fixed is the EU transposition deadline of 2 December 2026 and the five points ELAS has set out so far.