Stuart delivery workers in Sheffield, Chesterfield and Sunderland are participating in what is now the longest ever gig economy strike in the UK. The Stuart couriers, who do deliveries for JustEat and are members of the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB), went out on strike in December after the company cut the base pay rate by a massive 24%, down from £4.50 to just £3.40 per delivery.
The workers are calling for £6 per delivery, plus mileage and paid waiting time after 10 minutes. The union is also fighting the company’s unlawful denial of worker status, with couriers not getting holiday pay or guaranteed minimum wage. To help the IWGB in this fight, they have established a strike fund with a target of £25,000. So far, they’ve achieved just over £19,000 of this target.
The strike has been backed up with various actions. For example, in late January, 60 Stuart delivery workers and their supporters blockaded the entrance to the McDonalds on Archer Road, Sheffield, and shut down all orders for 45 minutes. A few days later, IWGB couriers stormed and disrupted a DPD depot (DPD is Stuart’s parent-company) to demand that the CEO ends the exploitation at Stuart.
We applaud the actions of the Stuart delivery workers and wish them every success. To help the strikers financially please donate to their strike fund.