The City of Milan has issued an ordinance, effective from July 7 to September 23, requiring food delivery platforms to reduce or suspend deliveries to riders during the most critical hours of extreme heat days, from 12:30 to 16:00, when the INAIL-CNR Worklimate system signals a high risk level.

The measure requires companies to inform riders about daily risk levels and to adjust the assignment algorithm with an automatic stop or slowdown of deliveries during the hottest hours. Platforms must also favor work during cooler periods, provide water, breaks, and shaded or rest areas, and ensure that bonuses and incentives are not tied to speed or the number of deliveries on high-risk days.

However, the ordinance has sparked debate over workers' income. Many riders, paid per delivery and lacking social safety nets, report that suspending activity during central hours of the day results in an immediate reduction in pay. The lunchtime slot is in fact the period of highest customer demand. Riders from the USB union, who gathered in assembly and marched in Milan, summarized their position with a slogan highlighting the choice between health risks from heat and loss of income.

USB called for the opening of a national roundtable at the Ministry of Labor to achieve full collective bargaining for the sector and to overcome what the union describes as a false self-employment model. The union also argues that ordinances without funds to cover stoppage hours do not solve the problem, and that social safety nets are needed to protect riders.

According to some workers interviewed during the mobilization, companies do not provide water to riders, who purchase it themselves.

The FeLSA Cisl Lombardia union called for a meeting with the City to establish economic support tools, while Nidil Cgil Milano identified the lack of coverage as the ordinance's weak point, also noting that asphalt continues to release heat even after the central hours.

According to La Stampa, the measure would leave the Just Eat platform outside its scope. The city ordinance also reinforces a regional ordinance from June 9, extending protection to workers on digital delivery platforms.