This is an edited transcript of a video produced by trainers in Bristol talking about a recent strike and victory. You can find the full thing on the Bristol IWW Facebook page.
Us trainers in Bristol had real problems with our jobs. We could get assigned 20 trial shifts a day, 2, 4 or 6 at a time. It was really dangerous, and it just didn’t work. You can’t test someone’s ability to do the job when there are five cyclists behind you! They promised us an hourly rate for each trial, but it only lasted one hour. If the trial took longer, we weren’t getting paid.
So the people who were doing the trial shifts got together and agreed not to run any trials for one day. It was a strike. That really got the attention of the office. Everyone realised that everyone else was feeling the same thing so then everyone grouped together.
People started talking to each other, started organising. A large group of us have joined the IWW (a union).
We’ve now heard from the Deliveroo offices in Bristol that we’ll get a rep for health and safety, and significant changes to the trial scheme. The numbers of riders on any one trial has been reduced to two riders at a time, and they have let us know that we never have to wear the uniform. When you’re organised, you can get a lot done – and we’ve got a lot done here in Bristol.
This is taken from Rebelroo No 3 January, the newsletter for rooriders.