Next strike: Friday 23 February 17:00 - 22:00

Reports from the strike on 14 February:

The delivery strikes continue! The Valentine’s Day strike spread all over the country, with strikes in Inverness, Blackpool, Exeter, Bristol, Cambridge, Norwich, Reading, Brighton, Liverpool and more. According to Rodeo, orders were down by 40% in London and by 20% across the rest of the UK as a whole. It is estimated the strike will have cost the apps millions of pounds. The strike was reported in national and international news and has inspired strikes in other countries. Riders in Ireland took part on the 14th and riders in Portugal will strike on the 23rd. It’s even spread beyond just food delivery. Uber Taxi drivers in Bristol joined the strike on the 14th, along with Uber Taxis in the US and Canada. The companies may be multinational, but now so is the movement.

We think it’s really important to share information about what is happening in each local area, so we can all be informed and also learn what is most effective. So we spoke to some riders in different areas to gather reports:

London:

We received reports from riders in London about strikes in Baker Street, Bermondsey, Bromley, Brick Lane, Chinatown, Dalston, Earls Court, Forest Hill, Notting Hill, and Whitechapel.

More than 100 riders made a motorcade from Scrubs Lane to Notting Hill then to Battersea. They met journalists from AFP and BBC News on the way and also made a noisy protest outside the Deliveroo CEO’s house in Kensington. The motorcade ended in Battersea where the police blocked the road in front of the Editions kitchen there. The riders who organised the motorcade said their goal was to attract a lot of media attention to damage the reputation of the companies and this was successful.

In most areas in London, riders picketed Deliveroo Editions and busy collection points like McDonalds again like on the first strike. Riders reported that there were strong strikes in certain areas such as Whitechapel, Dalston and Forest Hill. In Whitechapel, a manager tried to intimidate the striking riders, but when riders stood their ground he backed down: “he saw that he wasn’t able to make us move, so he stood to the side.”

However, some other riders reported that the strike wasn’t as strong in their areas this time round, mainly because riders stayed at home for Valentine’s day with their partners rather than picketing. They said that Earls Court, Brick Lane and China Town were very quiet with not many riders working and no pickets. Some riders said that even if Valentine’s Day was good to hit the companies hard financially, it probably wasn’t the best day to build strong pickets. Even if loads of people stop working, without strong pickets it’s easier for people to think they’re losing and give up. Next strike we need to make sure we have strong pickets in every area.

Despite some weak areas, the strike was still massive in London. Knocking down deliveries by 40% on one of the busiest nights in one of the companies’ most important cities in the world is a huge achievement.

In some areas the apps started prioritising orders from small restaurants instead of McDonalds and Editions, which shows the strike was having the biggest impact on the biggest and most profitable restaurants.

Riders that weren’t striking were still able to gather in big numbers and take deliveries in places like Victoria, which also shows that we need to spread the strike to more areas and organise strong pickets there. To read full reports from different areas in London, scan the QR code to see the full bulletin on our website.

Blackpool:

The strike in Blackpool was good. Our target was to close the three McDonalds restaurants. We did that. I was at the Rigby Road McDonalds and I left at about 9pm to go home. I left someone else to run the picket and there were about 15 riders there as well, we were mostly Romanians. At Amy Johnson Way it was three guys, one English and two Romanian. At Cherry Tree another 3 guys running the picket initially, but more who were hanging around to keep them company. I think only 20 deliveries left the Rigby Road McDonalds in the five hours we were striking and all of them were Uber Eats orders that were ordered directly through the McDonalds website. We stopped all the Just Eat orders at McDonalds, which is the main source of orders. They had to close the app very early on and not take any more orders from Just Eat. At Rigby Road they put 43 deliveries in the bin and had to refund the customers.

The manager at Rigby Road was very angry at me and blamed me for having to throw away the orders and called the police. But it’s not an offence for me to speak to riders. I can speak to whoever I want. If the rider chooses to cancel the order it’s up to them. The police came, they said nothing. They said as long as you don’t force anyone and don’t start a fight, then you’re ok to keep doing what you are doing.

Five hours strike per month is not enough. It’s mathematics. They lose £1 million in five hours. If they give a pay rise to us, they lose more than £1 million per month. We need to strike more in order to win. There should be a meeting just with the captains of the strike across the country so we can coordinate. If all the big cities in England are striking at the same time, if everyone does it at the same time a few times, then maybe the managers will think: “fucking hell.” The key thing is to strike the big cities. London, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield. If those can all strike that will make a big difference.

Bristol:

In Bristol, there was a strike of around 60 drivers at the Deliveroo Editions in Eastgate. The strike was called on a WhatsApp group for Brazilian couriers. Starting at 6pm, we created a solid barrier across both entrances to the kitchen, before the police were called and those riders working without visas decided to leave, leaving a smaller group of us who continued to wave riders down and explain what was happening. A few people still collected orders but a lot of incoming riders saw the picket and avoided the site. Organisation beforehand was limited to Brazilian groups, with Somali, Afghani and other workers unaware that strikes had been called. This meant that leadership responsibilities were given to the rider on the picket who could speak the best English. This could be a problem if the rider who can speak the best English is not actually the best leader. There was talk of a ‘next time’, with riders swapping numbers and discussing the need for an assembly of different nationalities (Brazilian, Bengali, Afghani etc.) and for leaflets and posters in multiple languages, in an effort to unify across these divides.

Stourbridge, West Midlands:

On 14 February drivers in Stourbridge, West Midlands, joined the strike. We set up a Whatsapp group and added local drivers, and spent a while handing out flyers. We decided to target just one McDonald’s and one KFC as we are just starting out and we know they are busy spots. About 20 riders initially picketed outside McDonald’s, leading to an impactful protest. As more riders learned of the strike throughout the night, they joined in, with many ceasing work in solidarity and shutting down other McDonald’s nearby. McDonald’s responded by turning off their delivery tablets, effectively stopping all operations there. Our attention then turned to KFC, which remained operational. Our picket was successful with less than a dozen orders picked up in the whole night. This strike was a precursor to the larger West Midlands strike we are planning for 1 March 2024.

We are going to do more bulletins like this and we want to share reports from different areas. Send us a message or voice note on whatsapp with updates from your area to +447598260453.

Doing the maths … What would it take to win our demands?

We have heard some riders saying things like “We did two strikes. Why are the managers not meeting with us already? What is the point of another strike? Will it even achieve anything?”

We did some maths to try to answer this question …

First off, we wanted to work out how much it would cost the companies to give us what we have demanded. It’s very complicated to work out how much it would cost to increase the rate per mile, as the algorithm doesn’t work like that anymore. But it’s relatively simple to work out roughly what it would cost to increase the base rate for each order to £5, so we will focus on that.

Deliveroo is the biggest food delivery company operating in the UK, so we will focus on them. Deliveroo’s most recent investor report says that in the UK & Ireland in the last quarter they had 40,900,000 orders. The base rate for mopeds and cars is currently £3.15 and for bicycles it’s £2.90, so it would cost £1.85 per order to bring mopeds and cars up to £5 per order and £2.10 for bicycles. If we estimate that two thirds of Deliveroo’s orders are done by mopeds and cars and one third are done by bicycles, then we can calculate roughly how much it would cost to increase the base rate to £5:
⅔ (40,900,000 x £1.85) + ⅓ (40,900,000 x £2.10) = £79,073,333 per quarter

We also need to factor in double orders. If we estimate that 20% of orders are doubles and that on average a double costs 70% less in delivery costs for Deliveroo, then the total cost per quarter for Deliveroo to give riders in the UK and Ireland our demand of a higher base rate is £68 million. That is £272 million per year or £5.2 million per week.

Deliveroo makes more than this in profit, and the UK and Ireland is their most profitable area, so we know they can afford to pay this to riders. But it is a lot of money and we know they won’t give it to us willingly. However, if we can use our strikes to cost Deliveroo more money than that, then we have a very very good chance of winning our demands.

So how much is the strike costing Deliveroo currently?

Rodeo estimated that the first strike we did on 2 February led to a 50% reduction in deliveries in London. They calculated that this cost Deliveroo £1 million in lost orders. We think this is an underestimate and it’s likely it cost Deliveroo more money than that. Rodeo also estimated that the second strike on valentines day led to a 40% reduction in deliveries in London and a 20% reduction across the UK. That will likely have cost Deliveroo significantly more than the first strike, as normally orders are higher on Valentines day than an ordinary Friday.

There are also several other ways in which the strikes we are doing are causing costs for Deliveroo:
Deliveroo sent an email to restaurants before the strike saying that they would refund completely any orders that the restaurant makes and then are unable to deliver after over 45 minutes of waiting time. At almost every restaurant that we shut down there were tens of orders that got made but didn’t get delivered. For these orders, Deliveroo didn’t just lose revenue, they had to pay out to the restaurant and the customer. This is a huge amount of extra money Deliveroo and the other apps lost, likely hundreds of thousands of pounds across all the striking areas in the UK.

There are also longer term costs for them as a result of strike action, including damage to their brand (with customers and with restaurants) and also reputation with investors, which can affect the share price. Since 25 January when strikes were announced £120m has come off the total share price of Deliveroo. The share price is very important for the managers at Deliveroo in particular, because the managers all have lots of share options that they are waiting to cash out very soon, which they don’t want to go down in value, and they are also trying to avoid a hostile takeover by another company in May (which could happen if the share price dips too low), when Will Shu majority voting rights expire.

What does that mean for our strategy?

Right now, our strikes are costing Deliveroo a very large amount of money. If we struck one day each week in all of the areas we are currently striking, we could probably cost them over £2 million per week in lost orders and refunds. That is not to mention other long term costs.

That is roughly half of what it would cost them to increase the base rate to £5 per order. If we can show the company that we can sustain that pressure through regular strikes and we won’t give in, then it’s very likely they will make us an offer to improve the base rate by something, even if not the full amount we want.

If we can keep the strikes going (whether once per week or once per month), keep the strikes strong in every area, and spread them to some more areas (in London and to other big cities), then we can increase the costs even more and force Deliveroo to give us everything that we want. The same goes for the other apps too.

We need to keep going with these strikes and keep planning together the best way to shut things down. That is how we will win.

How to shut down your area for the strike:

Spread the word in advance:

If you want a strong strike in your area, it’s important to spread the word in advance. Have a think about what languages riders in your area speak and get hold of some leaflets and some copies of this bulletin in the appropriate languages to give out.

Distribute these to riders so they know about the strike before it happens and use that as an opportunity to talk to them and see if they will take part. If anyone says yes, ask if they would be up for giving you their number and working together to make the strike strong in your area. Set up a WhatsApp group for those of you who are working together to organise in your area so you can keep each other up to date.

Get influential riders on board:

If there are any big groups of riders from one language group or community in your area, or if there is an area where riders regularly hang out, then it’s likely that riders know each other well and it’s likely there will be a few riders who are influential with others.

It’s worth trying to find out who those influential riders are if you don’t know already. A good way to do that is to chat with people about the strike and ask them if there is anyone they would recommend speaking to to help spread the word. You could also ask them if there is anyone that lots of people go to when they have a problem.
Once you’ve worked out if there are any influential riders around, you should go find them and speak to them about the strike. If you can get them onboard, then ask them if they can convince other people to take part too. They will be able to bring a lot of people with them.

The importance of strong picket lines:

A powerful strike action requires strong picket lines. A picket line is when striking riders show up to dark kitchens or popular restaurants and take part in the strike together in front of these places. The main purpose of the picket line is to stop orders from being collected by other riders. To do this, it’s essential that strikers convince other riders to participate in the strike. It’s important that for as long as the strike lasts, strikers are physically present at the entrance of the restaurant or dark kitchen to approach any riders intending to do deliveries.

Not all riders will be aware of the strike, and most will be willing to participate when they find out what’s going on, so it’s important to inform riders when you see them arriving. Others will need to be convinced. That means striking riders need to persuade riders who intend to pick up orders not to do so. This will involve clearly and forcefully explaining what the strike aims to achieve, how it will benefit all riders and how riders are more powerful acting together rather than as individuals. It will be much easier to persuade riders to do the right thing if there’s a big number of strikers on the picket line. That’s why we need a good turnout of riders to take part in pickets.

The picket line is also a good place to organise with other riders. When you’re on the picket line, speak to other riders who are there, find out their names and take their numbers. If a rider is not involved in discussions, approach them, have a chat and introduce them to others. Ask how they found out about the strike and if they know other people involved. If you’re in a WhatsApp group, or you receive information about the strike action through other channels, share that information and get them to join. If you have copies of this bulletin, pass them around. Speak about what you think should happen next and what kind of actions and strategies will work. A picket line is also a good place to have an open meeting to discuss what people want from the strike and what they think should happen next. You can also start a dedicated WhatsApp group for your area to stay in touch with people you’ve met after the strike.

Strikes are not just about stopping work to hurt the boss. They’re also about holding a strong picket line and making connections for more coordinated actions in the future. We’re building a movement one strike at a time, so let’s make the most of the days we are together on strike.

BBQ for striking riders - Sunday 10th March from 1pm

All striking riders invited to a BBQ and social at Pelican House, 144 Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, London, E1 5QJ.

Come along to meet other riders from different areas and have a nice time. If you’re up for helping out with the BBQ, send us a message on WhatsApp.

Full Reports:

Blackpool:

The strike in Blackpool was good. Our target was to close the three McDonald’s restaurants. We did that. I was at the Rigby Road McDonald’s and I left at about 9pm to go home. I left someone else at that McDonald’s to run the picket at that point and there were about 15 riders who were there on the picket as well at that time. At Amy Johnson Way it was three guys, one English and two Romanian. At Cherry Tree another 3 guys running the picket initially, but more who were hanging around to keep them company. I think only 20 deliveries left the Rigby Road McDonald’s in the five hours we were striking and all of them were Uber Eats orders that were ordered directly through the McDonald’s website. We stopped all the Just Eat orders at McDonald’s, which is the main source of orders. They had to close the app very early on and not take any more orders from Just Eat. At Rigby Road they put 43 deliveries in the bin.

The manager at Rigby Road was very angry at me and blamed me for having to throw away the orders and called the police. But It’s not an offence for me to speak to riders. I can speak to whoever I want. If the rider chooses to cancel the order it’s up to them. The police came, they said nothing. They said as long as you don’t force anyone and don’t start a fight, then you’re ok to keep doing what you are doing.

Most of the Romanian riders took part in the strike and some English. There were a few English who didn’t take part. They didn’t want to talk, they said I’m not English and then they ignored me. There were around 4-5 people of them who came to Rigby Road to take orders. The majority of the riders taking part in the strike were Romanian gypsies. I’m not sure what it will be like next time. It’s hard work organising with the gypsies, they get demoralised when they see somebody who is still working and making money. I am going to go speak to them tomorrow to talk with them about the next strike on Friday. I need to explain to them that the boosts that were offered on the night were designed to break the strike and they weren’t missing out on anything. It would be helpful to get copies of the bulletin in Romanian to give out to them to help them have information about what is happening in different cities.

What do you think the response from the app companies will be to the recent strikes?

5 hours strike per month is not enough. It’s mathematics. They lose £1 million in five hours. If they give a pay rise to us, they lose more than £1 million per month. We need to strike more in order to win. But the challenge is that if we strike more and more, then the riders might not strike and will say “we need money”. It’s very hard. But if the strike was in all of England, targeting all the McDonald’s, it will be different. Whether we can get there, I don’t know. But if all the big cities in England are striking at the same time, if everyone does it at the same time a few times, then maybe the managers will think “fucking hell.”

One other problem is that if we strike, then the apps will bring onboard more riders. Those people are more prepared to accept lower pay as they haven’t been around so long. There are many people waiting on standby for an account in Blackpool.

The other people who could make a difference are the government. They could make a law so that no company can pay as low as what we are paid. The strikes are making a lot of attention come on to the government about the problems in the gig economy so that is positive. But it is hard to make the government listen because who do you think owns these companies … the same class of people as the government.

But for me I am up for striking every month whatever comes. For me every day can be a strike. But there is only 2% of the drivers who are like me, many others will go back to work. The key thing is to strike the big cities. London, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield. If those can strike that makes a big difference.

What do you think you could do to make the strike stronger in your area for the next one?

Get someone from London to come to Blackpool on Thursday to show the strike is bigger than just one place, if possible. Get the bulletin translated into Romanian and give it out. People need to understand that the boosts that are offered on the night are because of the strike in order to break it. Add into the bulletin the list of different cities that will be striking so everyone can see how many places are striking.

How do you think the movement should coordinate across different areas?

There should be a chat just with the captains of the strike across the country so we can coordinate.

Dalston:

I work in Dalston. I knew about the strike through social media as it was on Instagram, Facebook, it was everywhere. Plus I heard from other drivers. On the night there were a few drivers collecting orders. Most of them were saying they were working for Just Eat and cannot keep cancelling orders and as it is harder to do so on Just Eat.

Drivers are from different nationalities took part in the strike, but in general the majority of them are from Brazil, India, and Bangladesh. We all need to unite together to make this work. In the last strike we noticed some riders didn’t know about it and some of them didn’t want to strike. I think we need to do more to spread the word in the days before and let as many drivers as possible know about the strike, that they should keep their apps online and keep rejecting orders, instead of turning the app off. I am going to hand out some flyers this week and try to have conversations with drivers in the area.

Some drivers of course take advantage of high payments on strike day. We can only do our best to explain to them that it’s better payment only for that day and we are fighting for better payment for every day and every order. Delivery platforms do it on purpose so they can make drivers take the orders on that day because they are desperate; orders need to be delivered.

I think that even on non-strike days, drivers need to reject the low pay orders so the companies don’t have another choice but to increase the payments.

Customers could also help us too by not ordering on strike day.

I think the companies are aware there will be more strikes in coming days and weeks. So far nothing has changed and in fact the payments went lower, but we know the strikes affect them a lot. I think we need to keep going and if possible strike for longer next time.

Earls Court:

I work in Earls Court normally. I got to Earls Court around 6pm. Usually there are 20-40 drivers there. When I got there there were only 3 drivers and I didn’t recognise any of them - they were not regular drivers in the area. I stayed there and started doing a walkaround of the area. I went to another hotspot where there are normally drivers, but there was no one there. I stayed for a few hours and then went home because there was nothing happening.

All the riders I know were taking part in the strike, but none of them came to picket as they decided to use the day to take their wives and girlfriends out for dinner. The strike had an impact in Earls Court, but it could have been stronger if we had a picket. Maybe picking Valentine’s Day was not the best day.

One thing I noticed was that the managers prioritised the smaller restaurants on the delivery apps because they knew the strike will target the McDonald’s and the Editions. They have given priority to the smaller restaurants, where normally they give it to those places. They are playing dirty with us, and that means we have to play dirty with them.

Striking is good, but they have so much money they can afford to take some losses. We can’t afford so much. They say, “let them strike, we will lose £5 million, but to give them better pay will cost us £10 million.” We have to play dirty if we want to win.

I haven’t spoken to the guys in my area yet about the next strike, so I don’t know yet if they will take part. I think they will though. But we need to speak to people very thoroughly and explain from A to Z what the plan is and how we will win so that they take part.

What do you think is needed for this strike movement to win? What should the movement do next?

We need strikes but we need more than that too. We need to get supportive politicians to speak out about it. Maybe we should ask Jeremy Corbyn to speak about the strike on his twitter/social media. We need all of us riders to go on all of the social media posts of the app companies and post critical comments underneath. We also need to put stickers everywhere saying “delivery slavery”. We need to go to deliveroo office, chain all our bikes together outside the office and blockade it. Another idea is that we could all take food from the restaurants and give it to the homeless. This way the restaurants and the apps lose money, but it’s hard for them to fire us if we all do it.

Have you noticed any attempts by the app companies to spread misinformation to weaken the strikes?

Social media is full of posts about how riders are self employed and can just leave if they don’t like it. I think many riders are being convinced by this. We need to make arguments to riders about how even if we are self employed, we deserve a decent rate and we deserve transparency over what we are paid for each job. Why can’t we as riders say that we want a minimum rate of £4 for this kind of job or £5 or £6. Surely if we are self employed we should be able to set our own rate. We need to explain these things to other riders so they understand why we need to strike.

Aside from what we’ve spoken about, is there anything you think would be good to include in the bulletin that would be useful for riders in other areas to know about?

Links for Whatsapp groups & Instagram. Links to different designs of posters and flyers to advertise the strike. The posters should include screenshots of jobs with extremely low fees as this gets riders angry.

Any other comments?

Some people are giving up. The organisers should have printed stickers. They only posted the strike date on the internet. Not everyone is on the internet. They told me they would give me posters, but they didn’t. I was going to put up posters in Earls Court, Camden, Islington. But they didn’t give it to me. They should have asked for help to do this. I am worried that now it may be too late and we have lost people already.

Notting Hill

I work in Bromley, but on Valentine’s Day I went to Notting Hill, as we coordinated with several media outlets to meet at a McDonald’s in Notting Hill Gate for filming and interviews with riders. Initially, the plan was for all Delivery Jobs UK drivers to convene there at 5 p.m. However, there was a last-minute change, and they gathered at Scrubs Lane before proceeding to Notting Hill in a motorcade, with over 100 drivers participating. Their arrival caused a significant visual impact, with both the public and TV channels capturing the scene. The drivers lined up, occupying most of the road, buzzing their mopeds and flashing their lights.

We also had a substantial number of Brazilian influencers live streaming and explaining the purpose of our strike to their followers, urging them to support our cause. AFP News, BBC News, and GB News were among the media outlets covering the strike. I had the opportunity to speak with all of them during their evening news broadcasts. My focus was to convey to the British public that the delivery fees they pay do not benefit us, the drivers. As I addressed the media, many passersby inquired about our presence and, upon learning about our grievances and demands, expressed their support and cheered us on.

Despite the large gathering, there were no major issues, even when the police arrived. They were understanding and supportive, urging us to clear the road to prevent potential road rage incidents. After the event in Notting Hill, I proceeded to Battersea to assess the situation there. Along the way, I noticed numerous drivers congregating around Victoria. This wasn’t unexpected, as we were aware that this area wasn’t participating in the strike, so we let it be. In my area of Bromley, there was a lesser turnout compared to the previous strike but still a strong strike. Many drivers cited family commitments, with wives having the final say in whether they participated or not.

Participation in Future Strikes: Yes, my area in Bromley is committed to participating in the next strike on 23/02. We believe that continued action is essential to maintain pressure on the app companies and to further advance our demands.

Response from App Companies: The response from the app companies to the recent strikes is likely to be a mix of public relations maneuvers and attempts to appease workers without fundamentally addressing our concerns. We anticipate some concessions but remain sceptical about the extent of real change.

Strengthening Future Strikes: To make the next strike stronger in our area, we could focus on enhancing communication and outreach efforts to ensure even greater participation. Additionally, fostering unity among workers and building alliances with other labour groups could amplify our collective voice.

Victory for the Movement: For this strike movement to win, sustained pressure must be maintained on the app companies through continued strikes, coordinated actions, and ongoing advocacy efforts. Additionally, building broader public support and engaging policymakers to enact regulatory measures are crucial steps forward.

Attempts at Misinformation: Yes, there have been attempts by the app companies to spread misinformation aimed at undermining the strikes and discouraging participation. It’s essential for us to counter these efforts by providing accurate information and fostering solidarity among workers.

Additional Information for Riders: In addition to the topics discussed, it would be beneficial to include practical tips for riders on navigating potential challenges during strikes, such as accessing support networks, understanding legal rights, and staying informed about developments in the movement. Additionally, sharing success stories and strategies from other areas could inspire and empower riders in different regions.

Stourbridge, West Midlands

On 14 February, drivers in Stourbridge, West Midlands, joined the strike. We set up a Whatsapp group and added local drivers, and spent a while handing out flyers. We decided to target just one McDonald’s and one KFC as we’re just starting out and we know they’re busy spots. About 20 riders initially picketed outside McDonald’s, leading to an impactful protest. As more riders learned of the strike throughout the night, they joined in, with many ceasing work in solidarity and shutting down other McDonald’s nearby. McDonald’s responded by turning off their delivery tablets, effectively stopping all operations there. Our attention then turned to KFC, which remained operational. Our picket was successful with less than a dozen orders picked up in the whole night. The strike is seen as an essential precursor to the larger West Midlands strike scheduled for March 1st, 2024.

Added later:

The local drivers really got behind it and stuck together. The difficulty was trying to convince outsiders coming into the area to strike. McDonald’s did actually turn their apps off so that was a complete shutdown. KFC left their apps on and we did have a little bit of a problem with them as they didn’t like us standing by their seating area outside. To keep the peace we literally took five steps to the left onto the public car park. Then they moaned about us trying to stop riders from going in collect. But we were only talking to them trying to educate them. For the next strike, we’re going to keep doing the same things. Getting the leaflets out, talking to people to try and educate them. I feel like we have to sustain the pressure onto the apps, maybe by moving onto a weekly strike either on a Friday or Saturday. We also need to do a lot more media to get the general public onside. I like the idea of protesting as well outside parliament and I think it would be a brilliant idea to actually petition parliament to get it actually debated in the House of Commons, if we can get enough signatures calling out for changing legislation I think that would really help our cause as well.

Whitechapel

What happened in your area during the strike. What do you think went well? What was challenging?

When we work we all get together in one area. We don’t see everyone, but most people are also there on the online platform – like Whatsapp and Instagram. Majority interactions are there. We also meet face to face. We meet those who we don’t know already. We speak about the strike, it’s impossible to work at this fare.

We get everyone’s opinions – is the strike important, necessary. Most people agreed – if it’s effective and successful then we want to do it. Maybe a lot of people who didn’t meet face to face or weren’t in the group – a lot of people who live in other places – so they came for work, but they said sorry, we didn’t know. Even a lot of them listened to what we said, and there was unity. Still there was a small section of people who still worked. Some restaurants supported us and turned the app off – also on the 14th. The staff inside said they agree, the fares are really low, it’s fair and reasonable to strike. The people who supported were mainly normal level staff. It could also be because it wasn’t working to send out orders – but they still didn’t argue too much.

The strike on the 2nd was mostly successful. Then we decided about the 14th – even more people knew about it. People agreed to strike. More people in East Central. During the strike there was a boost, and some people wanted to pick up the orders. Riders who took orders argued that it wasn’t for Deliveroo or Uber. But we explained to them that regardless of the app, they should stand with them.

When Ghost Kitchen manager saw this, and as some of us were in the private parking – he came out and said they couldn’t stand there, had to stand on the main road outside. We agreed and stayed outside. Most people were listening to us. Suddenly the owner came out, said we can’t stand there, said you can’t force people. We explained we weren’t forcing. Then he caused trouble, took photos of us, said next time won’t allow us to pick up orders from there. We said fine, if you want to, we’ll deal with that. Then he saw that he wasn’t able to make us move, then he stood to the side.

We convinced at least 15-20 riders to turn back. Maybe a few people didn’t accept. Pretty much from 5 – 8:30 we were a strong picket. There weren’t that many people on the picket – maybe 15 people. But a lot of people thought as it’s a strike I’ll stay at home, or went to do other tasks. Because they didn’t come. It wasn’t just one picket, there needed to be other picket locations. Because enough of us didn’t come out, people were breaking it at other points – so we moved to Bethnal Green McDonald’s. We have a strong community, good bonds. We generally support each other altogether when there’s a problem.

What do you think the response from the app companies will be to the recent strikes?

We went on strike, but we haven’t got a response from the companies. We have to see if we go on strike again. It feels like they don’t care about riders at all. They say they have done satisfaction surveys, but how does that make sense, they are not supportive of their riders at all.

If there is a huge hype on every kind of social media, supports it, gives it legitimacy, maybe then they will be made to respond. And if the restaurants support us – next time when we strike we can keep it in mind that we speak to the restaurants, try to build some unity and request them to keep the app off. We are the ones who earn their money for them. Without us they couldn’t earn money.

Will your area take part in the next strike next week on 23/02?

The thing is if we call the strike, on that day, they tell restaurants to take certain measures. They prepare. That’s why we don’t announce it very publicly. If we tell people they will strike. But they are asking us – given we went on strike, it doesn’t look like we got a response. It’s not possible to pressure and force people so much. There’s a lot of riders. Because there’s so many, it’s difficult to get everyone to be involved. But still they would agree – they want to see what will happen ultimately. As it seems like some strikes have been successful in the past.

What do you think you could do to make the strike stronger in your area for the next one?

We need to speak to many people beforehand, even more. That’s our work – to try and make sure not a single person does [collect orders].We’ve told people in our friend circles, wherever you go, you meet riders, add them to the group. Every day people are being added to the groups. When the group gets full they’re added to a newly created group. It’s not possible to find everyone in one place, but whenever you get the chance.
People are being polled – how can we make it successful, how many days to strike. Some people are saying 5 days in a row – but we think it has to be a bit slow. We say to people ‘this strike is not just for us as individuals, it’s for all of us – all of us gain from this. People then agree. We say to people, we have to be unified.’

What do you think is needed for this strike movement to win? What should the movement do next?

For me the main idea is that we have to create a loss for them. If they feel they’re facing a significant loss. The more we strike. We have to keep a gap between the strike days, as people are facing crises – otherwise people will say they can’t manage and survive. And then when we’ve reached that point of unity and strength we can call a longer continuous day.

On top of that there should be news – we have to make them face questions, the strike has to be highlighted. We can make an argument about earning a minimum wage, we can question their fake excuses. It’s important to get large numbers of people out on strike days … to convince people ‘This is England – to survive, you have to work every day. It’s not that people are in a great financial state. Maybe 1 or 2 days I can live without working, but some others can’t do that because of their families.’

How do you think the movement should coordinate across different areas?

From the start, when we went on strike, riders from the south came to speak to us. We met face to face, and then the Whatsapp group was created. Now we pretty much know each other. And then within our own areas, Bethnal Green, Stepney, etc, we see people when we work. 70-80 riders see each other every day face-to-face. There’s 19/20 kitchens there.

[We asked about whether they had considered electing leaders or creating committees]
No we don’t have leaders like that, we consider that we are all leaders, all of us contribute and make decisions together.

[We asked if they needed to send someone South to speak to other riders, etc. How would they do that]

We have a group of us friends who know each other better, we would agree amongst us to send someone.

Aside from what we’ve spoken about, is there anything you think would be good to include in the bulletin that would be useful for riders in other areas to know about?

‘If we all have integrity, and want our rights – we need to stand our ground. We can call this a fight for our rights. If we stay with the strike, if not today then tomorrow, this will be successful. If we give up after 1 or 2 days, we will face a loss but nothing will happen to them. That’s what they are thinking, that we will give up after 1 or 2 days. We can’t afford to lose our focus.

Bristol

Shit Wages and Shit Working Conditions
There was a consensus that the strike action was being taken due to decimating pay cuts; one driver explained that he, like others, would be returning to Brazil soon as the wage, which had once comfortably supported him, had become unlivable. An ex-rider who had been involved with the 2019 strikes – now working as an Amazon driver – told us that a lot of riders who had been involved in that initial wave had moved on because of pay. There was talk of working in extreme weather conditions and of a lack of safety, with cops turning up at the picket but not when 14 year olds decided to steal their bikes.

Existing Levels of Organisation
At its peak, the picket line amassed to around sixty drivers, the majority of whom were Brazilian, the strike having been called by Brazilian couriers on a WhatsApp group 300 strong. It began at around 6pm and was initially a solid barrier across both entrances to the kitchen. During this time the workers managed to stop anyone collecting. After the kitchen called the police, the riders were forced away from the kitchen to the entrance to the industrial estate. The picket here was less effective, but the workers were still waving riders down and explaining to them what was going on. One of the kitchen entrances stayed shut through the whole of the picket after the initial hour. It was clearly causing Deliveroo some grief, as, for a few hours, the delivery payment skyrocketed to £17 for trips of less than 2 miles, and there was a constant police presence of around 6 cops. Although a lot of drivers who saw the picket as they approached the kitchen turned around and refused to scab, despite the best efforts of strikers to stop workers on their bikes from entering, there were a few here and there crossing the picket.

The problem the riders have in Bristol is that all of the existing organisational capacity is in the Brazilian section. Workers from Afghanistan, Somalia etc were unaware that anything had been called. Another limitation that became clear very early in the evening is that as soon as the police are called, the numbers dwindle due to a large percentage of the Brazilian group being in the UK illegally. The group don’t have a way to deal with this currently, and it leaves them open to retaliation in the way that we have seen in London since the strike and times before. On top of this, the riders ended up delegating to the only fluent English speaker on the picket. Whilst he was enthusiastic, this left clearly more militant and politicised workers unable to communicate with other workers approaching the picket.

Next Steps
It’s obvious that this picket was a relatively spontaneous eruption of growing dissent amongst drivers: whilst it was arranged to coincide with actions across other cities, Bristol is yet to develop an organising structure comparable to what has been achieved in London, and what was built up in the wave of strikes with the IWGB and IWW in 2019 has largely disappeared. There is a hunger for it however, as some drivers discussed the need for an assembly, a council of nationalities (Brazilian, Bengali, Bangladeshi, Afghani, etc.), with each delegating a leader. Some exchanged numbers to agree on a ‘next time’ and there was talk of a need for a leaflet and poster in multiple languages. There was clearly some separation between national groups on the picket, hence talk of trying to unify across these divides.

Don’t print this page, print the PDF itself!