Author: CourierCollective

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.

Justice4Couriers campaign member and Foodora Rider Captain Marcus Nicolson appears in this video alongside Chris Fear and more international couriers at the Alter Summit meeting last week in Brussels explaining why couriers are standing up for their rights!

PS: Foodora pays it’s Freelancers an hourly wage of 7 euros an hour not 7.60 as stated in the video!

"Si on ne peut pas vivre de nos jobs, à quoi ça sert de travailler?"

🚴‍♂C'est une bonne situation ça, coursier à vélo?🚴‍♀Hum, comment dire?🤔

Posted by Vews – RTBF on Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Foodora sent recently an email to its couriers and drivers noting that, because of “feedback”, that is, due to our campaign, Foodora will pay a monthly winter bonus from November to February of 50 euros to those who work over 30 hours and of 100 euros to those who work over 60 hours a month. Foodora also says it will start looking for social spaces for its riders.

We are pleased that Foodora intends to take action regarding the bad working conditions of its freelance couriers. We want to point out that the monthly bonus does not cover the loss of parking provisions and km allowances for drivers. Nor does the “winter bonus” make up for the pay cuts that decrease the couriers’ income from March to October. Hence, a return to the old pay model would be a more simple and effective solution.

The winter bonus does not address the fundamental problem that as freelancers Foodora’s couriers are excluded from the most basic worker protections, such as sick leave, insurances and pensions. As winter is approaching fast, Foodora must address the lack the of proper safety, because as the weather gets worse, the risk of getting sick or into an accident increases.

We are happy to hear that Foodora addresses the question of rider spaces. “Looking for them” is however not enough, it already snowed in Helsinki, so couriers need break spaces now and in all the cities in which Foodora operates—Helsinki, Turku, Tampere and Jyväskylä. Foodora was noted by its couriers well over a year ago that couriers absolutely need break spaces, so Foodora has had plenty of time to look for them.

Even though Foodora has refused to negotiate with its couriers, we repeat our call to Foodora to properly address the demands of couriers and negotiate with us over how to improve working conditions of freelancers. We expect Foodora to answer us by Friday 2.11.2018. If not, we will proceed by calling customers to boycott the company from Monday 5.11.2018 onwards.

Last winter I was biking down a hill towards the city centre to pick up a new order. At the bottom of the hill is an intersection and I had the green light. As I was nearing the intersection, a car turning left didn’t notice me; I remember being startled as I suddenly noticed the side view of a car right in front of me. I remember little of what happened next, but apparently I managed to dodge the car while still braking hard enough to send me over my handlebars into the middle of the intersection. I couldn’t get up on my own, but luckily some pedestrians came to my help and called an ambulance.

I was wearing reflective gear, my bike had lights and the road was well lit.
Luckily I didn’t break any bones. Based on the condition of my helmet I didn’t hit my head anywhere either.

I remember texting to dispatch in Berlin I was just in an accident. The answer I got was “Do you want to end your shift?”

What followed the accident left me feeling completely alone. I told my captain as well as the senior rider captain in Turku about what happened, but I was never asked any details by Foodora. Visiting the doctor about the weird pain in my shoulder, fixing my bike and sorting out everything with my insurance company was all my own responsibility. The physical and mental trauma meant I wasn’t able to get on my bike for several weeks, which also meant I was completely without any income during that time.

There were many times an accident like this could’ve happened but luckily didn’t. Couriers working in city centres are underdogs when it comes to the flow of traffic as many car drivers are simply oblivious to the fact that bikers need their space on the road as well. Foodora’s system of ranking its couriers based on their performance creates the feeling that one always needs to be faster and more effective. Rider captains keep on emphasizing safety, but they don’t really need to even take part in the competition since their shifts are guaranteed by their employment contracts.

I don’t want accidents like this to happen to anyone else and for them to be left as alone as I was. That’s why I’m part of the campaign.”

Mikael Saarenpää, current Foodora freelancer