A few months ago a well-known Finnish celebrity advertised Foodora in their Instagram post, which stated that it’s a “paid partnership with Foodora”. Right away, the followers of the said celebrity asked if they knew that Foodora and Wolt couriers had already for some time been involved in a labour struggle for employment contracts and better working conditions. The critical comments were completely spontaneous, not devised by the Justice4couriers campaign.
Recently also Radio Helsinki advertised Wolt on their social media accounts. These social media gimmicks and various campaigns offering free deliveries and such emphasize that both Foodora and Wolt are willing to pour money into just about anything – except improving their couriers’ working conditions.
Food delivery is a good and a necessary service and the Justice4couriers campaign does not want that the companies go bust – on the contrary, in question is also the income of us couriers. However, we demand Foodora and Wolt to treat all of their workers equally.
We don’t accept that unlike the office employees and management of Foodora and Wolt, the couriers are forced to work as entrepreneurs even though the business model of Foodora and Wolt is totally based on their work. The couriers are not employed and they have no protections against summary lay-offs, no sick leave and no insurances – and they also have to pay the side expenses of the work themselves from their low income.
We couriers do not demand the impossible. We want that recent pay cuts are repealed and that we will be offered the possibility of employment contracts. Our work is the backbone of Foodora and Wolt. We won’t accept that we, who do the most dangerous and physically most taxing work, get the smallest pay and are not even employed.