JustEat couriers’ strike hits rush for lunch
In a city with a long history of industrial action, gig workers are staging a very modern dispute over their pay
When Parirs Dixon sent a WhatsApp message to his fellow Just Eat couriers in Sheffield, bemoaning their new pay terms, he did not expect to make history.
But more than two months on, he is leading the longest-running strike in the gig economy — in the city that, more than 30 years ago, had the lengthiest industrial dispute in British history.
The couriers, who work through Stuart, an independent delivery contractor, were told over Zoom last year of a change in their conditions which they say amounted to a 24 per cent pay cut.
Dixon, 25, suggested to his comrades they go on strike. “I gathered up a WhatsApp group,” he said. “I got drivers who are on the Stuart app only in this group chat, built it up, built it up, built it up, until the start of the strike, and then obviously when it was time to strike, we were already prepared, I had the union ready on side.”
The drivers are being supported by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), a relatively new trade union, which formed in 2013 and represents workers in the gig economy.
However, the strike, which passed its 60th day last week, was not triggered by the traditional ballot of members. The contractors — all self-employed — can choose to withdraw their labour at any time, meaning that industrial action has become casualised too.
Instead of being employed full-time and paid an hourly rate, they are paid for the jobs — or “gigs” — they do. Most are self-employed contractors, who often work for online platforms used by companies such as Deliveroo, Bolt and Amazon. Last year Uber
lost a protracted legal fight in the Supreme Court, which decided in favour of its drivers, ruling that they must be treated as workers rather than self-employed.
The Sheffield strike targets popular outlets at peak times — it began with McDonald’s, and now includes branches of Greggs, Subway and KFC, which couriers refuse to pick up from during the lunchtime rush.
Colleagues in Blackpool, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Newcastle upon Tyne and Dewsbury have joined the protest.
On a picket line outside a Sheffield city centre branch of Greggs, couriers said the changes in their pay had come as they faced a rising cost of living. They must meet all their own vehicle costs, and fuel and insurance prices have increased.
“It’s difficult ... When your child says, ‘Daddy, I want to go and play football, I need boots, [and you can’t buy them], you feel like you are an irresponsible dad,” Luc Zintchem, 53, said.
Edward Jerry, 42, who has two young sons, works seven days a week but, like other strikers, joins the picket line at peak times. One of the problems was that many of those working needed the money. “You try to explain to them [about the strike], they tell you, they’ve got families to feed, and bills to pay, and they still have to work,” he said.
On a picket line outside a McDonald’s, couriers have been joined by Uber drivers. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called on the government to do more to protect those in the casual labour market, saying they are treated like “disposable labour”.
“This government promised to protect and enhance workers’ rights,” Tim Sharp, the TUC’s senior employment rights officer, said. “But we have seen virtually no action so far. Ministers must stop dithering and publish the long overdue employment bill.”
Stuart said it had not cut courier pay. While it has reduced the base rate for journeys under half a mile from £4.50 to £3.40, it said that drivers could receive more for longer journeys than they could under the old payscale.
Couriers receive a base rate to complete a job, which can be supplemented with a daily multiplier depending on demand, and they get additional compensation for making longer journeys.
“We take courier concerns very seriously and aim to be the most courier-centric platform in the sector,” Brendan Hamill, UK general manager for Stuart, said. “Stuart’s pay per hour is amongst the highest in the sector and average courier earnings, calculated by the time couriers spend on deliveries, exceed the real living wage.”
JustEat said: “We are working with our third party delivery partner and are having ongoing discussions with them on this matter.”
Britain’s longest running industrial dispute was a strike at Keetons engineering works in Sheffield from 1986 to 1994.
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