The delivery firm Rappi, that distributes consumer goods since 2018 through a digital platformwas criminally denounced before the Public Prosecutor’s Office so that “investigate whoever is responsible, participates or conceals the use of registered workers for maneuvers of the crime of asset laundering”the union reported.
Complaint 2,551/DGPDH/07, file 6,402, filed with the Early Intervention Unit (UFE), was made by Gonzalo Ottaviano, a delivery worker and member of the leadership of the Motorcyclists, Couriers and Services Union Association (Asimm), who also submitted documentation as evidence.
The union leader explained that Rappi “imposes billing generation through the Gestorando firm on its users and workers,” and argued that both use “a mechanism to produce overbilling on behalf of those users and employees for derisory amounts unknown to the staff and the clients”according to a document.
Ottaviano made the judicial presentation after investigating for a long time various complaints of precarious workers who perform tasks on that platform.
“Gestorando and ‘Pago 46’ are companies of dubious origin, since they propose as the only way of contact a WhatsApp number or email that rarely works. There is no visible physical address, according to the formal document”Gonzalo Ottaviano
The trade unionist also denounced employer maneuvers so that workers pay “negative balances through the ‘Pago 46’ application, which means manipulation so that they cooperate in deceptive movements, since there is no way for the staff to filter or control the method of payment for the orders they receive”.
“Upon reaching the limit of 10,000 pesos, the application suspends the worker’s account and does not authorize tasks until the debt is paid, and it is imposed to do so with a deposit of money by bank transfer to a registered agent”he pointed out.
Ottaviano assured in his criminal complaint on behalf of the union that Rappi exposes the staff as a tax, for which he demanded “an immediate and prompt investigation and clarification of the facts to quickly reach an evidentiary instance.”
“Gestorando and ‘Pago 46’ are companies of dubious origin, since they propose as the only way of contact a WhatsApp number or email that rarely works. There is no visible physical address, according to the formal document, “he added.
He also argued that “tax fraud, precariousness and labor exploitation are the registered trademark and the reality hidden by the platforms, which act by lobbying strongly and covering up any action that regulates them”, for which reason he claimed in the complaint that ” Those responsible for controlling and legislators stop looking the other way under the false premise of modernization and fight complicity and corruption”.
Ottaviano attached to his presentation evidence and legal certifications of the activity and methodology of digital applications, such as “the screenshot of a Facebook worker’s comment on Gestorando’s profile, on which occasion he stated that when trying to communicate with the company “‘was never able to get answers'”.
“Screenshots were presented of conversations in the WhatsApp groups that the Rappi distributors make up, in which they refer to the irregularities of the three firms, and others in which ‘Pago 46’ offers as a benefit the payment of commissions for operations carried out to alleged registered partners,” he said.
Ottaviano also presented evidence with the complaints of a worker about the overbilling of Gestorando and others about “the alliance between the three companies.”
In a so-called “corporate statement”, the directors of the digital platform today rejected “the unfounded accusations” and maintained that they had not yet received any notification from the respective authorities, and announced that they would proactively appear in court to “clarify the facts and refute slander.”
“It is not new that sectors opposed to innovation promote complaints and useless attacks against the industry of new technologies to try to damage the reputation of the companies that make it up and harm the activity of the entire ecosystem,” the employers’ association said in the document of press released today.
For the managers, Rappi has generated economic opportunities for more than 400,000 people in Argentina since 2018 and contributed to the digitization of more than 15,000 small and medium-sized local companies that use “this technology.”
“We live in a challenging economic context, which did not and will not stop the company from betting on the country’s growth and development, even in the face of attacks from specific actors who prefer to postpone technological progress,” concluded Rappi.
