Since a wildcat strike in London last summer, food delivery company Deliveroo have been facing a growing national resistance amongst riders who are deliberately misclassified as ‘independent contractors’ in an act of legal contortionism that typifies work in the so called ‘gig economy.’ In February, Brighton Deliveroo riders followed in the footsteps of their London comrades by organising a wildcat strike over meagre pay.
By Jim Benfield.
By classifying workers as ‘independent contractors’ and paying them a piece rate, Deliveroo do not have to worry about the costs of over-recruitment: it is their workers that bear these costs. In Brighton, with disregard for the conditions of work they imposed, Deliveroo hired so many riders that some have been reporting average earnings of £2 an hour. It is these conditions and the more general sense of a great power imbalance in the workplace (an IWGB survey found that 98% of respondents favoured more employment rights with Deliveroo) that have helped bolster a growing worker resistance. Successes have also played their role in spreading the resistance – in Brighton, Deliveroo were forced to stop recruitment after workers got organised.
In other cities the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) are mobilising with Deliveroo workers too. They helped workers in Bristol win a battle for better safety conditions at work. They are currently engaged in a campaign in Leeds, and are organising in other cities including Manchester, Liverpool and Bradford, to name just a few.
As organised workers we have been forced to create space for resistance within the precarious conditions of Deliveroo work. As ‘independent contractors’ Deliveroo owe us no rights, but nor are there any legal restrictions on organising a strike at the last minute, a fact riders have taken advantage of both in London and Brighton. As well as strike action we employ tactics that publically expose the injustices of work with Deliveroo, both online through social media organisation and on the streets in events such as #ridewithus in Brighton (the second of which is coming up on the 1st of May, this time dubbed ‘Precarious Mayday’ and in collaboration with other groups such as the Supermarket Anti-Work Brigade and Solfed). As small grassroots unions, such collaboration is a cornerstone of our organisational strategy. Groups such as Plan C and Focus E15, amongst many others, have helped us with our campaign. We are also pushing for national, cross union collaboration: on the 1st of April riders with the IWGB and IWW in Brighton, Leeds, Manchester and Bristol went on simultaneous mass protest bike rides.
In the national context of increasing pressure from riders and some public image disasters, Deliveroo are firing all cylinders in an attempt to recover. They count Thea Rogers (one time chief advisor to George Osborne) and Craig Oliver (David Cameron’s former director of politics and communications) as part of their public image consolidation team. They have been churning out cloying utopian videos about the joy of Deliveroo work and holding desperate ‘focus groups’ to try and win over disgruntled workers. Their first major legal challenge will come at the end of May, when a tribunal will decide on our ‘independent contractor’ employment status: a victory there will win us guaranteed minimum wage and holiday pay, and act as a legal bolster to the growing strength of a national resistance.
The Central Arbitration Committee will review the claims of the IWGB on the 24th and 25th of May. ‘Precarious Mayday’ will take place in Brighton on the 1st of May. For more information or to offer support and solidarity:
‘Precarious Mayday’: https://www.facebook.com/events/449670585372968/
IWGB Couriers and Logistics Branch homepage: https://iwgbclb.wordpress.com/
Jim Benfield – Twitter: @jimblano
London and Brighton: Just Two Pieces of a Growing National Resistance
