(Thursday 23rd May) After the largest gig economy strikes in UK history, the board of UK food delivery giant Deliveroo, will come face to face with some of their frustrated riders at its annual general meeting in London today.
At the AGM the riders will get the opportunity quiz the company over its continued failure to address poverty pay and poor working conditions and practices. The questions, co-ordinated by responsible investment NGO ShareAction and the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) union, follows 12 months of paralysis on these issues since the last AGM from senior executives.
As well as workers challenging the board inside the meeting, large numbers of riders will be gathering outside the building to protest the company before staging a motorcade across London, pausing at various locations. Members of the Brazilian, Bengali, Romanian and British rider communities are set to attend, with numbers estimated to be in the hundreds.
Deeply frustrated by the lack of action from the senior management of Deliveroo, the riders took the decision to take spontaneous industrial action in February of this year, which saw thousands of riders striking across the UK, and which is estimated to have cost the company millions of pounds in lost revenue and caused a decline in Deliveroo’s share price
One of the riders attending the AGM to ask a question is Uli Cioffi, a Deliveroo rider for the last 4 years and IWGB member, said:
“Every day is a struggle working for this company. Flexibility means nothing when we’re forced to work excessive hours to support our families, pay our bills, or even just stay alive. Earlier this year we saw the biggest ever strike action in the UK gig economy, with thousands expressing their anger at Deliveroo’s abysmal failure to treat riders with dignity and respect, yet Will Shu continues to turn a blind eye to his own workforce’s pain. When I see Deliveroo executives talk about how riders are satisfied, I start to think “Who are they asking?”, because it’s not me or any of the riders I speak to on a day-to-day basis.”
In 4 years, Uli has seen no improvements to pay or working conditions since he started working for it. Uli was one of the core organisers of the Valentine’s Day strikes.
Alex Marshall, IWGB President and former courier said: “In the last year Deliveroo paid out £300m to shareholders, whilst rider pay continues to decrease in real terms. Where are the pay rises for the riders who make Deliveroo and their shareholders their millions through blood and sweat who are pushed to work 12+ hour days, seven days a week, just to get by? Deliveroo CEO Will Shu will claim that workers are satisfied with their conditions, but back on planet earth, thousands of riders are organising and taking strike action against what has become well known as one of the most exploitative platforms, not just in the UK, but in the world.”
Dan Howard, Head of Good Work at ShareAction said: “Gig economy workers have been some of the hardest hit by the cost-of-living crisis. The riders today are making sure Deliveroo and its shareholders cannot continue to ignore the impact of inadequate pay and poor working conditions on their lives. The strikes have made it clear there are very real business risks if the company fails to step up to properly compensate and protect its workers. Investors must keep a close eye on making sure this happens to support the long-term interests of the business and its workers.
Notes to editors
IWGB published research at the end of 2022 which exposed the triple impact of the cost-of-living crisis on platform workers in the gig economy, who are also hit by plummeting pay and soaring business costs they themselves have to cover.
