More and more Deliveroo bicycles are to be seen in Dublin.
This is an extract from an article in today's Guardian.
"If you get knocked off your bike there is no sick pay, and the company has no responsibility to give you any work afterwards. I am in the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain and they are affiliated to the London Courier Emergency Fund – they will help you if you get injured, because your company won’t. [Deliveroo says riders engage with it flexibly as freelancers, saying when they want to work. This means they are responsible for their own insurance – but the company is looking into new approaches with insurers].
"I think Deliveroo want to manufacture this image that we are all young, middle-class men who wear trendy clothes, making a little extra cash. But a lot of the couriers are migrants, or working-class people from the local area, and the majority are doing it full- time because they need the money. There are all ages – from 18 to people in their 50s. [Deliveroo says this is not reflective of its fleet and that around 85% of riders use the app to supplement their income.] If there aren’t enough orders in their area, then people get their shifts cut. I don’t know how long Deliveroo can keep its image as a cool tech startup.
"Why am I still here? I like cycling a lot. And what else can I do? I don’t have qualifications. Now at least I have regular hours. And I am interested in the union. Deliveroo riders are getting organised and we are trying to challenge the idea we are independent contractors and fighting for an independent wage."
1 comment:
Now appearing in towns all over the country, not just Dublin.
They're no different from pizza delivery guys or taxi drivers - or most house-cleaners for that matter.
It's a self-employed model because the costs of doing this kind of service on a regular employment basis would be so high that no customers would be willing to pay them. So it's effectively the only way the service can exist.
Migrants all over the world have used this kind of business to work their way up the economic ladder. It's especially useful in places where they are less likely to be hired into regular jobs, due to good old fashioned local racism - quite a strong feature in many Irish towns!
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