Riders strike across Italian cities over heatwave safety and lost wages

Delivery riders in Milan, Bologna and Florence walked off the job as a severe summer heatwave pushed food-delivery work into a direct clash over health protections and lost wages. Unions representing riders for Glovo, Deliveroo and Just Eat called the strike across several Italian cities on Wednesday, demanding that workers be protected from the hottest hours of the day without seeing their income cut.

In Milan, the stoppage was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., with riders pressing for a ban on deliveries during peak heat. Their central demand was blunt: if companies suspend service for safety reasons, they should cover the lost earnings so couriers do not absorb the cost of extreme temperatures. The unions said that protection from the heat had to include protection from economic loss, not just a temporary pause in work.

Florence was set to see one of the most visible mobilisations. After an assembly organised by Nidil CGIL Firenze, riders planned a bicycle procession through the city centre starting at 5 p.m. from Via Cavour and ending in Piazza Tanucci, after passing Piazza San Marco, Via Nazionale and the Fortezza da Basso. The route put the dispute into public view in the middle of the city, where couriers were expected to use bicycles to press the case that summer deliveries had become unsustainable.

The strike landed after a heatwave that had already forced heat-safety measures in parts of Italy and reopened a legal fight over how app-based delivery companies manage risk. In 2025, a Milan court ordered Glovo Italy to negotiate with unions over the extreme-heat health and safety risks faced by freelance couriers. Later that year, Glovo paused a widely criticized heat bonus scheme for couriers, a move that underscored how contested the company’s approach to summer working conditions had become.

Organizers framed the strike as more than a one-day stoppage. Some described it as the opening move in a broader campaign against falling pay rates and increasingly unsustainable summer conditions for riders in major Italian cities. With Milan, Florence and Bologna all involved, the action showed how climate stress is now testing the limits of app-based labor models, and how quickly the question of who bears the risk can become a question of who gets paid.