Month: November 2018

Foodora couriers want to be respected and given their basic working rights without fear of pay cuts and worsening conditions. This starts with recognising that couriers are #workersNOTdeliverypartners !

One of the biggest achievements of the #justice4couriers campaign has been to draw public attention to the precarious working conditions in the gig economy. We hope the public share our view that we are #workersNOTdeliverypartners , contrary to what Foodora claims!

International workers across the gig economy are standing up to demand DIGNITY and RESPECT from their employers! Brave Amazon.com workers deserve much praise for speaking out and we stand with them in their struggles.

They currently share a very similar message with our own campaign; to be recognised as PEOPLE NOT ROBOTS!

This is a global fight!

Amazon, we are not robots

These amazon workers from around the globe have come together with one message for Jeff Bezos. We are not robots, treat us with dignity and respect. Share their message far and wide 👇#AmazonWeAreNotRobots

Posted by GMB Union on Friday, November 23, 2018

The Helsingin Uutiset newspaper writes about how food-delivery platforms treat their workforce in questionable ways. Meanwhile couriers of Wolt and Foodora continue to drudge under terms and extremely poor terms and conditions bearing all the disadvantages of both entrepreneurship and employment, while having no advantages of either form of work.

The second photo in our #workersNOTdeliverypartners series. Foodora couriers are workers and deserve respect and fair working conditions!

The first photo in our #workersNOTdeliverypartners series. Foodora couriers are workers and deserve respect and fair working conditions!

This week we are releasing a number of courier photographs to illustrate that food delivery couriers are PEOPLE not “Delivery Partners” in the words of Foodora . People who deserve RESPECT and FAIR working conditions!

To highlight this point we will include a short quote from each worker. We won’t identify riders by name to protect their anonymity in the company.

First photo published tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Our campaign is expanding, because the problems of the platform economy are not restricted to Foodora. We have been contacted by Wolt couriers and the first of them have now joined our campaign. We welcome other Wolt couriers and drivers to join our campaign as well so that we can together work for better working conditions.

Based on the discussions with Wolt couriers, the problems at Wolt are very similar to those at Foodora: the couriers are not employed, but fake freelancers and thus excluded from even the most basic security, such as insurances or sick leave. They too pay for their own equipment and for the side expenses out of their pay, which is on a very low level and which Wolt further reduced in March. Unlike at Foodora, the Wolt couriers have never even had break spaces. Our demands are:

• Repeal the pay cuts
• Job security: couriers need insurances and sick leave as well as transparent shift allocation
• Compensations for equipment and vehicle maintenance
• Break spaces
• The possibility for employment contracts

As is with Foodora, many of the problems of the Wolt couriers are caused by them being excluded from employment and the minimal security that comes with it. We are now crafting our general demands with Wolt couriers to address the specific situation at Wolt and planning how to go about our campaign regarding Wolt. We encourage other Wolt couriers to join us in planning the demands and the campaign.

In Australia and Spain food couriers have been recognized as employees as a result of their campaigning. It shows that we can change the terms and conditions of our work with collective action. Fake freelancing and forced entrepreneurship are not restricted to Foodora, or even to Foodora and Wolt, but they are a problem on many industries.

So join our campaign, together we can solve the problem!

The trade organization Translation Industry Professionals support our campaign.

This is an important gesture of solidarity, because the worsening of working conditions through freelance-agreements is not restricted to Foodora or Wolt, but is practiced in many other industries. The suggestion by KAJ that the self-employed could collectively negotiate their terms of work is a very good one.

The newest issue of Notes from Below is on the Transnational Courier Federation, recently founded in Brussels by 34 courier groups from different European countries.

The issue presents courier struggles from Italy, France, Belgium—and Finland! Callum Cant interviews Marcus Nicolson from our campaign and Tuomas Tammisto writes on working under algorithms.