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Worker Struggles in the 21st Century
More Protests by Delivery Couriers
There isn’t a month that goes by without protests from delivery couriers.
In mid-October, Uber workers protested in Glasgow, Scotland. They demanded higher delivery rates, as Uber couriers are earning less today than they did a year ago. Drivers also oppose the new “Trip Radar” system, which simultaneously offers jobs to multiple drivers. This forces workers to constantly monitor the app, endangering road safety and fostering competition among drivers for jobs. Whether this is an unintended consequence or the system is designed to undermine solidarity among Uber workers remains unclear.
However, the corporation has met a worthy opponent in GMB Scotland, the Scottish branch of one of the UK’s two largest unions. The union is pushing for collective bargaining agreements for Uber couriers.
Most protests and strikes in the delivery sector, however, are entirely grassroots-driven, organized by informal groups or small, grassroots unions that often form during protests. For example, in Poland, unions involved in supporting courier struggles include the syndicalist Inicjatywa Pracownicza (Workers’ Initiative) and the even more radical Zrzeszenie Syndykalistów Polskich (Union of Polish Syndicalists). In the UK, a key union supporting courier struggles is…