‘So immoral’: gig economy workers forced to pay fee to receive their wages
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Retail assistants on low pay using YoungOnes platform docked cash or told to wait up to 30 days for earnings. Retail assistants have accused a gig economy firm of “holding them to ransom” by making them pay a fee if they want to receive their wages within a month.
A new payment system brought in by YoungOnes, which supplies “freelance” retail assistants to many well-known high street stores, charges gig workers 4.8% of their earnings to be paid in one minute or 2.9% to be paid in three days. If they decline, they typically have to wait 30 days. Previously the workers were paid in three days, without a charge.
Tom Gillam, who has worked at least six shifts at the Emma Sleep’s store in Manchester, said gig workers on low and irregular wages needed money quickly to buy essentials and pay bills. “People do gig work for short-term cash ... it feels like we’re being held to ransom,” he said. “It is so immoral it’s unreal.”.
Gillam, 37, claimed some of the workers at the store were last week still waiting to be paid for shifts in late November and early December. “They can’t really badger their managers because working as a freelancer you have no voice, you might not get any more shifts if you are seen as outspoken.”.
Another worker at the Manchester store said he was forced to borrow money from his family to buy gifts and travel home for Christmas. “It is unfair for people working on a low wage with reduced rights to be charged to get their money quickly,” he said.
