The November issue of the Rebel Roo, a bulletin for and by Deliveroo workers, is here. After a bit of a break, we’re publishing again. This month we’ve got reports from a victorious strike in Bristol and a big precarious labour demonstration in London. Across the country, a new round of Deliveroo conflicts are starting to develop…
“Deliveroo is changing. More hedge fund investment, more urgency to cut costs, to provide a return for that investment. Branch offices are closing across the country, now only opening 1 day a week for kit collections. No more training rides or kit check for new starters. No fleet captains, no access to the call centre, no ‘family atmosphere’. Just a general email address as the only point of contact for any problems. And now, slowly being rolled out, the ‘self serve’ shift booking tool. You wanted stability, Deliveroo listened right? Wrong. The new system could end up with ‘self employed’ riders bidding against each other for shifts, or even individual drops. One rider will do a drop for £4.25, another says they will do it for £4.10: they get the job. A textbook “race to the bottom” that destroys solidarity amongst riders, and only Deliveroo wins. We have a chance now, while riders still have some power and common cause, to organise the courier industry and stop the bosses having it all their own way. Don’t look back in 6 months time and think “If only….””
