Velouniversitet Cycle: Discussion. Uberization of transport and services. The case of gastrocouriers

Warsaw, like most European metropolises, is dynamically developing the delivery services sector, especially in the food and catering industry. The supply sector fits into the logic of patchwork capitalism — inconsistent forms of regulation and a high level of precariousness of workers coexist here. Work management and supervision of employees are carried out not by people, but by algorithms, while formal employment is often not the responsibility of corporations known for their names and logos printed on backpacks, but intermediaries, the so-called fleet partners.

The form of employment is regulated by civil law contracts, intertwined with contracts for the rental of a vehicle (bicycle, scooter, etc.), which limits the protection of the workers' rights of couriers. At the same time, most of the risks associated with this work and the responsibility for ensuring their safety remain with the workers. The declared flexibility of labor in supply is the code name for its instability. The working time is often 10—12 hours a day or more (couriers then cycle 60—80 km!) , and the algorithmically determined remuneration is not closely related either to its length or to the distance covered. During the discussion, topics relating to the rules prevailing in the sector, but also how this sector affects traffic and safety regulations will be addressed. We will look at the risks to which couriers are exposed.

The discussion will be attended by: Kseniya Gomel, Katarzyna Duda and representatives of the organizations Zentrala and Timebomb.

dr Kseniya Homel-Ficenes - is a sociologist, an associate researcher at the Center for Migration Research at the University of Warsaw and a researcher at the Institute of Social Prevention and Resocialization. In 2026, she completed an internship under the Dekaban-Liddle Fellowship program at the University of Glasgow. Her research interests include issues of economic and social integration and inclusion, social inequalities, self-organization of people with migration experience and migration discourse. She is particularly interested in women's entrepreneurship with migration experience and entrepreneurship support ecosystems. In the years 2023—2024, she led the project “Business in a new country: strategies for migrant women and infrastructure for entrepreneurship support in Poland and Italy”, implemented within the framework of CESS IDUB. She is currently conducting the study “Strategies for achieving agency in the masculinized business world: a sociological analysis of the trajectory of migrant women entrepreneurs in Poland” within the Prelude program, National Science Center (2022/45/N/HS6/01241).

Katarzyna Duda - Graduate of Law and Political Science at the University of Opole. In cooperation with the Ferdinand Lassalle Centre for Social Thought, she studied the conditions of employment of cleaners and security guards employed by private companies. She is the author of reports on the effects of outsourcing of auxiliary services by public institutions, as well as the books “Once there was life here now is only poverty. On the Victims of Polish Transformation” and “KORPO. How to work in foreign corporations in Poland”.

Wojtek Dereszewski - In 2003 he was one of the founders of the Warsaw courier cooperative Timebomb. He works in it to this day. In the midst of the pandemic in 2020, he founded the Zentrale supply cooperatives, which later evolved into a group working for the rights of people working as Providers for Platforms.

Stanisław Kierwiak - has been working as a Pyszne.pl courier for more than 4 years, co-founder and currently a member of the board of the trade union organization Confederation of Labor in this company.

Ticket: 5 zł

Venue: education room

Fig. Tomasz Kaczor

Education partner of the Warsaw Museum — PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna S.A.

www.gkpge.pl