On strike in Sheffield!

LabourStart UK

Food couriers employed by gig-economy firm Stuart will be striking in Sheffield, UK, from 6 December. These couriers, who are spuriously “self-employed” and serve takeaway giant JustEat, are being slapped with a 24% cut in their per-delivery base rate.

Stuart claims that the base-rate cut is made up for by a new distance-based bonus. But in fact the changes simply mean that drivers will have to go further and faster to earn the same money. It’s a pay cut and a recipe for risk on the roads.

Food couriers will demonstrate at Sheffield Town Hall at 12 noon on Sunday 28 November and then move to indefinite strike action from 6 December, shutting down deliveries from McDonald’s and expanding to take on other chains.

The couriers’ union, the IWGB, is a small, young union, and it needs help to build up its strike fund!

Please donate here.

Demonstration on 28 November (facebook event)

The Working Class has no country! Solidarity with Brazilian couriers in Dublin.

Borders serve only the bosses, states are cross-class alliances. Away with them!

From IWW Ireland.

Brazilian Deliveroo couriers in Dublin have been leading a campaign against xenophobic attacks and thefts.

All of us who have worked as couriers know the physical dangers we face on a day to day basis. Not only must we navigate urban traffic, often in the dark or adverse conditions, but we have very little control over the areas we travel to, and those of us on bikes and mopeds are continuously physically exposed.

These factors are compounded by inequalities within society around race, nationality, gender, sexuality, age, physical ability, and so on. An area that feels safe to a white man, might not feel so safe to woman of colour, or some may face racial profiling from police or Immigration authorities as they go about their jobs.

On top of this, our work require that we carry around expensive equipment, whether vehicles or smartphones. This can make us targets for thieves, who in certain areas have set up strategies specifically targeting couriers for their vehicles, smartphones, and whatever else they may be carrying.

The arms-length nature of our relationship with our ’employers’ means that they can shirk most of the responsibility for our safety or for any loss or damage to equipment. Where insurance schemes are offered, they are limited in scope and can be hard to access.

These are all aspects of precarious employment – various means by which risk is pushed down on to us, the workers, while those who employ us are set to reap the rewards.

In Dublin they are setting an example in how to challenge this state of affairs – by standing together, collectivising the struggle, and forcing those who seek to reap the rewards to account for the risks we must face.

From across the UK and Ireland we declare solidarity with our fellow couriers in Dublin, and all those who stand up against violence and xenophobia in their workplaces and beyond.

We can only fight precarity with solidarity!

Dopey deliveroo!

Ahead of the valentine’s day strike we sent our demands by e-mail and registered post to deliveroo, who were kind enough to copy us into the e-mail instructing their staff not to respond. Believe it or not, we’ve just had the follow-up:

It’s always good to know what calibre of adversary you’re up against in the Class War.

Report from the front line: Bournemouth couriers shut down deliveroo on Valentine’s day!

L Bournemouth town centre, R banner drop on A338

Twenty-seven riders struck in Bournemouth. Nineteen picketed the largest and busiest KFC in Bournemouth, others went sick, or celebrated valentines with a loved one. Four scabs crossed the picket line, looking “furtive and guilty” – you know who you are! However four new riders were recruited to the strike group.

One striker assessed the viability of ordering food on the customer app:

“The only places I can order from are ones that provide their own delivery … It worked. I can’t get any (deliveroo rider) delivered food at the moment. … all the town centre and landsdowne restaurants show up … From 9:15 I couldn’t order food if I wanted to.”

Future actions will enforce deliveroo rates equivalent to the new minimum wage of £8.21 per hour. Another striker commented:

“The overall feelings of anger, aggression and disgust towards Deliveroo, rose again last night, to a new level. We refuse to let Deliveroo reduce us to poverty stricken workers, who are grateful for crumbs that fall from the company’s table.

The support from other striking riders in the UK was uplifting, and show us that the battles being fought by individual towns and cities are now combining, to becoming a united and coordinated War.”

Don’t cross picket lines!

Oh dear!

St Valentine’s day massacre! Bournemouth IWW couriers join national Deliveroo strike.

You can support the riders by not ordering food on Valentine’s day!

Couriers affiliated to Dorset IWW are taking industrial action this thursday 14th February 2019. We are demanding:

• Return to July 2018 fee level.
• Increase distance fees for journeys over 2.5 miles (amount to be negotiated).
• Reduce the delivery zone (size to be negotiated).
• Stop on-boarding* new riders and drivers immediately.
• Remove double orders that show only one address.
• Give reasons and supporting evidence when terminating contracts.

* This is deliveroo’s euphemism for recruiting scabs to break a strike. It is to be hoped prospective riders will have nothing to do with this despicable tactic.

Please don’t order a takeaway on Valentine’s day. Why not join your partner in the kitchen and cook something together? It’s a lot of fun, and no-one wants to f*** a scab.

https://iww.org.uk/iww-couriers-network/

https://www.facebook.com/IWWCouriersNetwork/

Tweets by IWW_Couriers

IWW statement on Home Office courier raids

It has been reported in the press that the Home Office have been coordinating police raids on gig economy couriers suspected of working with false documentation.

In some cases, under the ‘substitution’ clause in the courier contract, account holders will rent out their accounts to other workers. Deliveroo claim that this puts the onus on the account holder to perform background checks.

It is clear that these companies wish to benefit from access to a highly vulnerable workforce by using the ‘substitution’ system to shirk liability for illegally employing people.

We don’t condone or support any form of rent-seeking – the lowest form of capitalist profit making – and particularly condemn those who rent out their ‘right-to-work’ and make a profit at the expense of some of the most vulnerable in our society.

We stand in solidarity of all those making deliveries for Uber Eats and Deliveroo, regardless of immigration status or “right-to-work”, and condemn the police and Home Office victimisation of workers.

As Brexit looms on the horizon, it seems likely that the ‘hostile environment ‘ is going to intensify and expand to more of our fellow workers. In recent months, we have already seen police raids against other groups of workers in precarious jobs, notably sex workers.

If you witness, or hear of, police gathering to conduct raids, we encourage you to let your fellow couriers know so they can avoid the area.

An injury to one is an injury to all.

Further information and advice the Anti Raids Network is a loose network of groups and individuals working to build the resistance to immigration raids by producing and sharing information and materials. 

Invitation to: Gig Economy Organising Roundtable (London, 24/01)

Open to all interested parties.

Invitation:

Gig Economy Organizing Round Table Thursday January 24th, 7-9pm, May Day Rooms, Fleet Street, London

Open to: Labour organisers and union members

The roundtable will function as a sort of focus group centred around the conceptualization of work and organiseable conditions. The aim will be to recognise new conditions in platform work organizing, like digital communication, precarious hours, and dispersed solidarity, better understand how organisers are responding to gig economy conditions, and envision future tactics.

The central question will ask how organisers conceptualise work, and how the shift to platform organising has changed their perception of what work is possible to organise. From this starting point, we will discuss the effect of digitization on solidarity, the use of physical pickets, and how legal channels fit into the gig economy.

The London IWW would like to invite organizers from the IWW and any union involved in gig economy work to attend. Ideally, attendees will be union organisers or members who have had some experience with gig economy campaigns. If they also work in the gig economy, even better!

It is free to attend and the London IWW has set aside funds to help defray the costs of IWW members from new or smaller branches.

Please let us know if you or someone from your branch/union is interested in attending.  If you would like the London IWW to assist with transport cost, please let us know in advance how much you would like to request.

For further information or to reserve your place, please contact Tom and Gaby at redandblack83@gmail.com & gabrielle.jeliazkov@gmail.com.

Mass Sackings at Deliveroo – What can I do about it?

If you work for deliveroo and would like help in organising in our area, please get in touch

From I.W.W UK

During the week leading up to Christmas 2018 Deliveroo took it upon themselves to sack (or ‘terminate’ in RooSpeak) hundreds of couriers, sending out identical emails alleging fraud on the part of the sacked couriers. No notice was given, and no opportunity for appeal. When challenged to give specific evidence of these fraud allegations Deliveroo has so far flat out refused. We can only speculate on why Deliveroo would choose to make such an audacious attack on their workforce, so close to Christmas. Perhaps it was a cynical ploy to increase staff turnover, weakening our collective power, or perhaps a bug in their terminator algorithm caused some overzealous culling.

While recognising that our legal status as self-employed, drastically limits our recourse to legal protection, we believe that by working together and taking collective action we can best force Deliveroo to pay attention to our grievances.

We, the IWW Couriers Network, have publicly demanded that Deliveroo give full evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of our terminated colleagues, or they reinstate them with immediate effect. But demands alone are unlikely to be enough. We can’t promise you that we will get you your job back, or a fat defamation payout, but we believe that together we are stronger, and that by developing collective responses to such attacks on workers we have the best chance of success. Below are some suggestions of what you can do, whether you’re a recently terminated courier, an active courier, or anybody else who wishes to show support.

What can I do if I was terminated? Get in touch with the IWW Couriers Network

The best way we can fight these unfair terminations is together. If you get in touch with us couriers.network@iww.org.uk we can a) begin to assemble a picture of what took place, the scale and the distribution of these terminations and b) put you in touch with your nearest couriers network branch, so you can get involved in any plans that might be taking place in your city or region.

Submit a Subject Access Request to Deliveroo

One of the difficulties with challenging these terminations is that Deliveroo doesn’t provide enough information,or specific enough information, to challenge or appeal their decisions. A Subject Access Request (SAR) is a way of making a company hand over all the personal information they have about you. It is not certain that these requests will provide specific cause of terminations, but we expect that it will give us enough information to make a case that the fraud allegations are baseless. A successful SAR needs to be very specific in what it asks for, and as such we have provided a template that can be used. This template can be found at the bottom of the page.

Join the IWW!

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is a union for all workers, with a specific focus on supporting workers in traditionally non-unionised industries. Recognising the transient and precarious nature of ‘gig-economy’, the IWW Couriers Network has been supporting workers who are not paid-up members of the IWW, and we will continue to do so. But such activities have costs, and the IWW depends on member’s dues to pay for anything. We have no paid officials, so you’re not paying for some union bureaucrat to sip champagne on their yacht. All dues go straight towards supporting workers in their struggles. It is also a union that you can take with you between jobs, and by joining you will be a part of a grassroots network of solidarity whoever you are working for and wherever you are based. It costs as little as £1 a month to join, and can be done online here:

What can I do if I still work for Deliveroo? Speak to your fellow couriers, and reach out to any who’ve been terminated

Building direct relationships between workers is the first step towards building meaningful solidarity. Share your outrage about these terminations, and the threat that now hangs over the heads of those us us who still have a job. Especially try to make contact with anyone who was terminated in your city. Let them know that you support them, put them in touch with your local IWW/Couriers Network, and send them a link to this document!

Think about and discuss how you can communicate your anger to Deliveroo and show support and solidarity for the sacked couriers

For good reasons, many couriers are worried to stick their neck out and publicly challenge Deliveroo. As the current case shows, they have a tendency to sack us with no reason given and no chance to appeal it. There are a number of things you can do depending on what risks you’re willing to take, from contacting local media (who will often be happy to report such cases, and will most likely be willing to respect your anonymity), to holding strikes and pickets. Talk with your colleagues and former colleagues about what you feel you can do.

Support any actions planned in solidarity with the terminated workers

If a petition is circulated then sign it, and if a protest is organised then show up. Use a fake name or cover your face if that makes you feel more safe. It’s particularly important that if there’s a strike called in your city that you join it. If you don’t want to show your face in public, then at a minimum don’t accept orders during the specified hours. Withholding our labour is often the most powerful tool we have, but it only works when workers stand together as one.

What can I do if I don’t work for Deliveroo but want to show my support? Speak with friends, family, and colleagues about what’s going on in Deliveroo.

Raising awareness is always a great place to start. It might be especially interesting to talk to colleagues about how this relates to your experience in the workplace. The ‘gig-economy’ model is being rolled out across many industries, particularly in the service sector, so the struggles we face today might be the struggles you face tomorrow. If you work in the food industry, or for a restaurant partner of Deliveroo, then it is especially important that we develop an understanding of each other as workers and how our struggles intersect.

If there is a strike or boycott in place then don’t order Deliveroo.

Even better, make it publicly known that you would have ordered a meal through Deliveroo but didn’t since you heard of the action taking place. Advertise the strike or boycott widely to maximise the effect.

Join a union (and be active in that union)!

An injury to one is an injury to all, and a victory to one strengthens all of us. The IWW is open to all workers, or there may be another union present in your workplace or industry, or you could even join both!

Please contact couriers.network@iww.org.uk to let us know if you have submitted a SAR / got a response / been rehired

Subject Access Request email

Deliveroo Contact Addresses

DPO@deliveroo.com

support@deliveroo.co.uk

hr@deliveroo.co.uk

corporate@deliveroo.co.uk

press@deliveroo.co.uk

Template Email

In line with my GDPR rights, I wish to make the following subject access request:

1) A copy of any and all information held about me by Deliveroo, whether by name or rider number.

2) I wish to receive copies of any and all emails on Deliveroo systems that mention me by name and / or any other identifier – eg rider number, phone number, vehicle registration number, email address – and in particular any that concern the termination of my contract.

3) Clearly you hold information on me which has led to you terminating my contract. I am asserting my legal rights to see any and all information regarding this termination, whether by name or any other identifier such as those stated above. Specifically I am requesting the data on each and every instance where I allegedly marked food as delivered in my app which was never delivered to the customer. This information should include date, time and postcode and any other material or identifiable information for each of these alleged offences please.

4) Please provide me with records relating to the assessment of each of my alleged failed deliveries, the reasons for your decision that each of these was not completed and evidence that you had to pay compensation to customers because of my alleged failure to deliver their food.

5) Can you please let me know who my data has been shared with, including any and all third parties.

If my request is not complied with, or is not responded to within the specified time, I will make a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office in addition to seeking further legal advice.

Many thanks for your swift responses, you have up to one calendar month to deliver this information to me in electronic form to this email address.

Thank you for your cooperation

https://iww.org.uk/iww-couriers-network/

https://www.facebook.com/IWWCouriersNetwork/

Tweets by IWW_Couriers

Weymouth and Portland – Action on Wages (WeyPAW)

WeyPAW is a community action group who want to give the people of Weymouth and Portland a pay rise. We take action on the streets, in the media and online to help people understand the various problems they have in getting paid properly, as well as the various legally required payments they are entitled to as employees of businesses in and around Weymouth and Portland. These include Statutory Sick Pay and Holiday Pay, but at the very simple, to ascertain whether they are receiving the UK legally mandated Minimum Wage.

Policy Proposals – Discussion

We need:

• an integrated strategy to tackle poverty wages and failing services in W&P, using public resources in key areas;
• a commitment by local councils to pay the real Living Wage, as set by the Living Wage Foundation;
• a commitment by local councils to equal pay for women, full in-work benefits, and rights at work – and an undertaking to allocate contracts on this basis;
• a commitment by local councils to end to zero-hours contracts;
• a commitment by local councils to publish and pursue active strategies to tackle food, fuel and funeral poverty;
• a commitment by local councils to ban payday loan companies from council advertising spaces;
• an audit of jobs in W&P, with the participation of local councils, to identify delinquent (“rogue”) employers who evade full payment of wages and in-work benefits, and/or who impose unnecessary charges on employees;
• trade union organisation to protect rights at work, especially in low-paid sectors including catering, retail and leisure (holiday camps, hotels, tourism);
• a new agenda for housing that focuses on unoccupied units, a programme of refurbishment and co-operative ownership and/or rental;
• an urgent review of health provision with direct involvement of the public;
• an active, high-profile public campaign for improved public transport by road and rail;
• a collaborative strategy for public “anchor” institutions that provide full-time jobs, rights at work and a continuing contribution to local communities;
• a working group to advance plans for a University of Dorset based on campuses at Weymouth and Dorchester.
• Revised policy proposals will be put to MPs, councillors, and all candidates for office in the Unitary Authority and in the next general election. WeyPAW will ask all candidates for their views and intentions.

See WeyPAW policies at www.weypaw.org and on Facebook. Contact WeyPAW at weypaw@gmail.com