IWGB

Some articles about struggles involving the IWGB union, initially courier strikes.

Delivery drivers bulletin (English/Portuguese) Feb. 2024

Download the billingual Englush and Portuguese bulletin to hand out at the 14th February 2024 strikes here . The first day of action was in this wave of non-unionised courier strikes was the 2nd of Feb, another has been called for 14th of Feb 2024, 5-10pm. It was called initially for London but has spread. The bulletin is deliberately not specific to time or place, so if you want to use it in other cities, and if the strike continues and you want to use it at a later date, it should work fine. Delivery drivers across the UK are going on strike over low pay. This strike is important, and we...

IWGB protests at City University

On 24 November members of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) and supporters occupied the foyers of two buildings at City University in London to demand justice for members who work as night cleaners there. Three workers have been victimised after a wider group registered a collective grievance about issues of mistreatment and overwork with the university’s subcontractor, Julius Rutherfoord Ltd. One worker (Bianca) has been sacked, one (Maria) disciplined and one (Ana Maria) physically attacked, by the son of the manager the grievance was against. Updates and links on twitter...

UAL cleaners plan to escalate

Cleaners in GMB at University of Arts London (UAL) High Holborn campus struck 26-30 September, as part of a wider campaign against outsourcing across the university. At the High Holborn branch, the specific demand of the cleaning team was for an additional five members of staff, to make up for those who had been cut as the cleaning contract has been passed around different agencies in the last few years. The contractor offered an “independent investigator” to provide a staff number. But cleaners there know the reality, after one worker had to take a month off sick, whilst another had to have...

Luton couriers stage protest

Food couriers working for Deliveroo, UberEats and JustEat staged a protest in Luton on the night of 27 September, speaking out against low pay. Over 100 drivers participated in a protest outside McDonald’s which ran from 10am to midnight. Speaking to Luton Today , one driver said: “Before, we used to make around 15 to 20 deliveries a day, but now that they are employing more drivers it’s gone down to around five or six a day. Some people are working from 7am to around 2.30am the next day just to make a living.” The Luton couriers are in contact with the IWGB union. From December 2021 to summer...

Preparing to renew courier pay fight

For six months, from December 2021 to May 2022, delivery couriers across the UK waged the most sustained campaign of strikes ever in the gig economy. These strikes have now been suspended over the summer, a quiet time where low volumes of business make it hard to create disruption by striking. During the summer lull in business, workers and the union are preparing to re-start a campaign of industrial action and lobbying and activism by supporters for a pay rise, when the weather changes. Drivers had previously planned a day of action for 1 August. That has now been postponed to a later date...

Next couriers' day of action 1 August

Delivery couriers across the UK are using the summer to re-organise before ramping back up their campaign for better pay. Since December, delivery drivers working for Stuart, a firm that does deliveries for JustEat, have been mounting strikes across the UK against a pay cut. The drivers’ next day of action will be on 1 August. Organised in the IWGB union, drivers took six months of strikes, and are continuing to carry out protests and days of action, including invading corporate HQs of big clients and turning up at shareholder meetings. As the strikes wore on they inspired action by riders...

Workers defy immigration raid in East London

Police raid in Ashwin Street, Dalston, 14 May The importance and power of workers’ organisation was shown dramatically on Saturday (14 May) in Dalston, London. When a group of police officers started conducting immigration checks against couriers, passers-by started to gather, and local union organisers quickly got the message out via social media to call people in. The harassment is suspected in response to militant workers organising there against parking fines unfairly given to drivers, who work in notoriously tough conditions. Protestors faced malicious violence from police officers...

Building broad support for the couriers

On Tuesday 17 May, delivery couriers across the UK organised in the IWGB union are staging a national day of action. In Sheffield, Chesterfield, Middlesbrough, Darlington, Hartlepool and elsewhere, couriers will stage a day of strikes and protests. At the time of writing (8am on 17 May), all delivery services in Hartlepool were offline. In London, supporters of the couriers’ cause are set to demonstrate outside JustEat headquarters. This is a part of a long-running dispute between couriers across the UK and Stuart, a logistics firm which performs deliveries for JustEat and which cut the base...

Couriers next big day of action is on 17 May

As Ramadan drew to a close in early May, food couriers in Sheffield, Chesterfield, Middlesbrough and the Leeds area suspended their daily or weekly strike action, resolving to move instead to co-ordinated national days of action. The next day of action will fall on 17 May. Meanwhile, the torch of sustained daily action is being carried by drivers in Darlington, who have been shutting down all food delivery business in that town for two hours every lunchtime throughout the month of May. Drivers in nearby Hartlepool have also recently held a meeting with the IWGB with a view to entering the...

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