Activism, Workers' Resistance
by Ed Sykes

Deliveroo workers strike to demand safety and basic rights

Deliveroo workers on strike on 7 April

On 7 April, workers from food delivery service Deliveroo took to UK streets in protest. They went on strike to demand greater safety measures and basic working rights.

Members of the grassroots Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) led the action:

As Union News reported:

The IWGB members are taking action to coincide with the corporation’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange. Socially distanced protests are being organised in London, York, Sheffield, Reading, Wolverhampton

Gig economy resistance

Union News quoted IWGB president Alex Marshall as saying:

Deliveroo presents a false choice between flexibility and basic rights but the Uber ruling showed that here as well as abroad, workers can have both. That is the least they deserve and what the public expects for our frontline workers.

Marshall then added that:

by getting organised and speaking out, riders have triggered a domino effect which already slashed £3 billion from Deliveroo’s valuation and that should give pause to any corporation that thinks precarious workers can be endlessly exploited without consequence.

Union News also quoted the IWGB’s Greg Howard. He explained:

I’m on strike for my basic rights and those of all the other riders struggling to get by and support families on Deliveroo poverty pay. I’ve seen conditions decline for years and then working through lockdown I contracted Covid-19 and got very little support from Deliveroo.

Solidarity spreads

Other union voices, meanwhile, expressed solidarity with the Deliveroo workers:

And according to the IWGB, there was also some “organic action” spreading elsewhere:

Main article image via Twitter screenshot (Alex Marshall)