France’s gig economy ‘stirs’ hopes, tension as poll looms

Le Pen backs traditional jobs

PARIS, April 11, (RTRS): It’s lunchtime and Parisians are queuing for baguettes at a bakery on the Rue Montmartre, a sight long typical of life in the French capital.

But three cyclists clad in neon-blue outfits chat outside and regularly check the smartphones strapped to their wrists, waiting for orders to whisk meals from nearby restaurants and bistros to other Parisians in their homes or offices.

They’re among an army of riders working for the British-based Deliveroo firm who have rapidly become a familiar sight pedalling up and down the city’s boulevards.

These recent scenes in the Montorgueil district of Paris offer two opposing visions for large parts of France’s services economy; each is championed by one of the candidates likely to contest the run-off vote for the French presidency next month.

Far-right contender Marine Le Pen wants to protect the likes of the traditional French baker or driver of metered taxis in towns and cities across the country from unfair competition.

Her centrist rival Emmanuel Macron sees the “gig economy” of firms such as Deliveroo and the U.S. app-based cab service Uber as a model for creating jobs particularly in the “banlieues” - deprived suburban housing estates where unemployment is almost three times the national rate.

Still, concern is growing about a new class of working poor with no social protection, and Californiabased Uber faced days of sometimes violent protests by its French drivers in December after raising fees it charges them to use the platform.

So, with the rapid emergence of new forms of employment creating such frictions, the next president will have to decide whether to say “stop” or “more” to the gig economy.

On the Rue Montmartre, the Deliveroo riders leant towards the view of Macron - a former banker who tried to push through liberal reforms as economy minister from 2014-16 - even though they work as self-employed contractors without protections such as accident insurance that salaried staff automatically enjoy.

One was 21-year-old Nicolas Usunier, who dropped out of college in his first year and looked in vain for a job at bakeries and supermarkets. By contrast, becoming a Deliveroo rider was quick and easy, he told Reuters.

“I was struggling. Then I saw a guy doing that; two weeks later I was on my bike going around Paris,” he said. “I know some would like a real contract, but I like the flexibility.”

Waiting for an order at the bakery in central Paris, an-hour’s commute from his home, Usunier says he has not seriously considered getting insurance. “I will think about it the day I have an accident,” he laughed.

France is famous for strong rights enjoyed by those people who have traditional employment contracts. Their working week is set at just 35 hours and firing them is difficult.

Critics say this makes employers reluctant to hire and the price is chronic unemployment which, at almost 10 percent is roughly double the rate in Germany or Britain.

Approaching a quarter of young workers have no job. France is also struggling to integrate generations of immigrants, failing to create anything like enough jobs for those stuck on the cities’ peripheries.