Support the Sheffield couriers' strike

Submitted by AWL on 14 December, 2021 - 3:35 Author: Michael Elms
Sheffield food couriers on strike

On Monday 13 December, a meeting of food couriers in Sheffield voted to extend their strike against logistics firm Stuart for another week. Their strike is now the longest and largest in the history of the UK gig economy. Activists in Workers’ Liberty have been helping to build the local couriers’ branch of the IWGB since 2019 and have been centrally involved in this strike from the very start.

Drivers in Sheffield and Chesterfield are striking against a 24% cut to their per-delivery base rate made by Stuart, which organises takeaway deliveries for JustEat. Drivers in cities where this new, worse, pay structure has been in place for a while report losses of about £100-£150 per week.

In 2020 Stuart made about £20m more than in 2019. But the company can avoid paying tax, because they are able to report a £7m deficit. Why? Between 2019 and 2020 some top executive officers have been awarded pay increases of 1,000%.

This historic strike has drawn warm words and donations from many trade unionists and Labour MPs. To win the couriers need a lot more money in the form of big branch donations, and Stuart couriers in other cities to join the strike. As of 14 Dec, meetings to discuss strike action are scheduled in two other towns with more in the pipeline.

The chair of the Sheffield couriers’ IWGB branch, Parirs Dixon, spoke to Solidarity:

“I think the strike’s going very well. We’ve got people that are outside each McDonald’s every night, at the picket lines, standing up for what’s right and trying to gain themselves respect. We’ve realised now from going into restaurants in this second week, during our working hours, that staff are showing us a lot more respect and our orders are being done quicker now. I feel like at the start of the strike it was a bit rocky in a few places, but after four or five days, it’s got a lot more peaceful, very few people are collecting for JustEat now. And when you’ve got people on a picket line it makes it harder for people to go past you to collect orders.

“Hopefully, eventually we’ll get to a point where we get a response from Stuart about the strike, indicating that they’ll commit to making a change. We didn’t want to do this. We will have to back them up into a corner where they’ve got no choice. We have got other cities on board through our strength and our persistence. We’ve got Chesterfield already and it’s spreading, other cities are beginning to jump on board. It’s nice to know that Sheffield was the headquarters for all this.

“What surprised me about the strike was the amount of unity that we’ve created in Sheffield. I can’t really say I’m surprised that people have been out every night. I could almost say I’m surprised that we’ve still got faith despite some of the negativity we have had. That shows that people know that what we’re doing is right. I’m glad that people understand that it’s not going to be overnight, or one week, but it’ll go for as long as it needs to last for.

“My message to other couriers is that if you can join in, if you don’t believe it’s right, then dig in, help us to get a response quicker. We’d appreciate your help. But know that you’d be making history, win or lose, and if you get on board with us, you can always say that you were there.”

• Donate to the couriers’ strike fund

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