GCC: Migrant food delivery workers subjected to "systemic" labour rights violations due to indirect hiring, finds investigation
Intermediated labour arrangements are central to how labour is structured in global platform supply chains…This is strategic: by sourcing employment to third-party firms, platforms retain control over labour conditions while avoiding legal and reputational responsibility.Equidem, "Realising Decent Work in the Platform Economy: Addressing Intermediated Platform Employment in Food Delivery and Data Work"
In May 2025, Equidem released a brief analysing “systemic abuse” experienced by migrant food delivery riders when hired through intermediaries.
The brief also references another report written by Equidem on abuses experienced by migrant data workers – see more here, including comments from Meta, OpenAI and Remotasks.
In relation to migrant food delivery riders, the brief looks at labour rights violations experienced by migrants hired by third-party logistics providers (3LPs). The brief argues the use of indirect hiring relationships through 3LPs “obscure(s) employment relationships, complicate(s) regulation, and contribute(s) to deteriorating working conditions for millions of workers worldwide”. The findings are based on interviews with 108 delivery riders from Bangladesh, Cameroon, India, Kenya, Nepal and Pakistan working in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The brief says migrant food delivery workers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and are rarely directly hired and workers experience a range of labour rights violations amid a restrictive visa and sponsorship (“Kafala”) system, including the absence of contracts, arbitrary dismissal, recruitment fee charging, safety violations, the denial of freedom of association, unrealistic performance targets and unreasonable working hours. The brief suggests these conditions “closely align” with the ILO’s indicators of forced labour.