Belgian Deliveroo couriers on strike

The collective of Deliveroo couriers is on strike every Saturday to protest against a precarization of their status. Since last week, actions are taking place in several Belgian cities.

Submitted by donaldo on January 21, 2018

The collective of Deliveroo couriers in Belgium organises strike protests against a deterioration of their status. Last year, Deliveroo announced that all of their couriers would have to adopt the status of independent workers, payed per command, while up to now, the couriers could also get engaged via a temporary employment agency, and this way receive more protection through the status of employees. In order to fight against a precarization of their status, the collective, that gathers around 200 couriers, started strike actions last Saturday (January 13th) and plans to go on strike every Saturday until Deliveroo withdraws this measure that should become effective by the end of the month already.

Actions took place in several cities such as Brussels, Liege, Antwerp…In Brussels the group went collectively to several restaurants in the city center, that use the application and asked them to show solidarity and to switch off the device. In Liege, a spokeswoman of the collective announced that the couriers on strike would go to the restaurants that still use the application, receive the command, and distribute the food to homeless people.

Follow the collective on facebook (french): https://www.facebook.com/collectif.coursiers/

Comments

Baderneiro Miseravel

6 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Baderneiro Miseravel on January 25, 2018

Hello! Very interesting struggle and collective of workers.

The collective Passa Palavra has translated this and some other communiques of the Deliveroo couriers Collective and written a report on them. The text is avaliable here:

http://passapalavra.info/2018/01/117657

Cheers!

Steven.

6 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Steven. on January 25, 2018

Yeah thanks very much for writing this up, interesting stuff. Please keep us posted!

Mike Harman

6 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mike Harman on January 26, 2018

There was a strike by Deliveroo workers in Hong Kong this week too: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/community/article/2130206/grumbles-hong-kong-deliveroo-riders-strike-over-changes

donaldo

6 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by donaldo on January 26, 2018

Hello ! Thank you for the links !
Just a little update here : Currently a group of workers is occupying the Brussels headquarter of Deliveroo. It's the third day of their occupation, you can see pictures on their facebook page (link below the article). Actions are planned until the end of the month (January), like a cycling demo this afternoon, with the support of CriticalMass Brussels (bikers who claim more space for biking infrastructure in the city). For tomorrow (Saturday) another strike is planned. The problem is that if Deliveroo changes the status of the workers by the end of the month, a major part of those who lead the strike and actions would be laid off. Here is the collectives call for financial support : https://www.lepotcommun.fr/pot/pkcm6wkv