Uber Eats will offer grocery deliveries from Coles supermarkets under a new deal involving 500 of the supermarket chain’s stores across Australia.
Thousands of Coles products will be available to order through the app, which gig economy workers will pack from grocery store shelves and then aim deliver within 60 minutes in metro areas.
The deal comes after MilkRun, a grocery delivery service, announced on Tuesday it was closing and its 400 employees would be made redundant, blaming worsening economic conditions.
A spokesperson for Coles, which already has a partnership with meal delivery service DoorDash, said the deal with Uber Eats was in response to an overwhelming increase in demand for its in-house grocery delivery service over the past two years.
“We’re delighted to expand our partnership with Uber Eats to offer Australians a fast, reliable, and affordable option for getting fresh produce and groceries delivered to their doorsteps,” Coles’ general manager of digital operations and ventures, Claire Pallot, said.
Despite gig economy workers not yet having a minimum wage, the Transport Workers Union has welcomed the partnership, calling it a “powerful opportunity” to improve workers’ conditions and entitlements.
The TWU has signed agreements with both Coles and Uber aimed at improving workers’ conditions and income.
It comes ahead of potential changes affecting gig economy workers, with the government planning to give the FairWork Commission the power to set minimum conditions and benefits for gig workers. Uber, alongside other major rideshare players, has publicly backed the government’s plan.
The rollout began on Thursday with 40 stores in Melbourne and will expand to more than 500 in the coming months.
The new partnership will probably rival Woolworths’ delivery arrangement with Uber Eats which currently provides on-demand delivery for select stores. According to a joint statement by Coles and Uber Eats, the partnership will reach more Uber Eats customers than any other grocery store in Australia.
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“Uber Eats’s goal is to meet customers’ growing desire to get (almost) anything they need delivered on-demand, and this expansion will supercharge the wide variety of groceries available on the app,” Uber Eats’ regional general manager of retail, Lucas Groeneveld, said.
TWU national secretary, Michael Kaine, said the union will “hawkishly” monitor the arrangement.
“For the last decade we have seen major corporates and multinationals abuse their position at the top of the supply chain to exert downward pressure on conditions and income, with the gig economy providing one of the major channels for exploitation,” he said.
“For the first time, there is now a genuine, constructive opportunity to turn that around and build better working conditions.”