Oxford delivery riders strike over pay and conditions

Dozens of food delivery workers have staged a strike calling for better wages and protections for riders.

Riders for Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats gathered outside the Carfax Tower in Oxford city centre at 09:00 BST to protest over pay and conditions.

They said their pay had gone down since the end of the pandemic, while costs had gone up.

Just Eat said it offered self-employed couriers "regular incentives" to help them maximise their earnings.

Many food delivery drivers in Oxford switched off their work accounts, refusing to take orders or make deliveries around the city until midnight.

Deliveroo driver Gustavo said the delivery fees they worked for now were "probably lower" than they were pre-pandemic.

"We want to change the fees. Fees used to be good four years ago but instead of raising them, delivery companies are putting the fees down," he said.

"Maybe it is for the number of people that are on the road but that should not be happening.

"I think we should get paid a reasonable price for the deliveries, at least the same that used to be before."

Riders said costs were a big issue for them, having to pay for their fuel, uniforms and rucksacks.

Full-time rider Nelson Martins, originally from East Timor, said Deliveroo had lowered its minimum fare recently.

"We used to get minimum £4.15 per order, but after Covid it was £3.15 and £3 from Uber Eats," he said.

Joe Durbridge from the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) and a former courier said that broadly, "riders don't have any employment rights".

"Chronic underpayment is the result of figuring out the lowest price providers will take for work and that is the reason why fees are being driven lower and lower," he said.

"So there does need to be a broad regulatory solution for the issues that riders are facing."

A spokesperson for Just Eat said the company provided "a highly competitive base rate to self-employed couriers" and "offer regular incentives to help them maximise their earnings".

A Deliveroo spokesperson said all their riders were "guaranteed to earn more than the National Living Wage plus costs" and that in most cases they earned "significantly more than this".

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