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From The Socialist newspaper, 8 December 2021
Sheffield Just East couriers picket and march for pay rise
Just Eat depot Photo: Secretlondon (Click to enlarge)
Sheffield Socialist Party
On 28 November, Sheffield couriers employed by Stuart Delivery, which handles deliveries for Just Eat, took part in a motorcade through the city centre before they rallied outside the town hall, and then marched down Fargate to hold a mass picket of around 100 outside McDonalds.
These couriers, members of the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB), started ongoing strike action on 6 December, initially picketing McDonald's outlets from 5pm-10pm.
They are striking because Stuart Delivery is slashing pay on most deliveries from £4.50 to £3.40, an effective pay cut of nearly 25%, as part of a new pay structure that will force couriers to work even longer to make the same money.
Despite undertaking high-risk key work through the pandemic, Stuart's couriers still live on poverty pay, are denied basic worker rights such as sick pay, and are forced to cover their own vehicle and insurance costs. With rising costs of living and fuel spikes, pay cuts will push these key workers further into poverty.
Instead of a pay cut, the IWGB union is demanding a pay rise, for a minimum of £6 per drop plus mileage and paid waiting times after ten minutes.
Bryn Atkinson-Woodcock, Stuart courier in Sheffield, says: "With the rising cost of living, and minimum wage and national living wage rising too, we should be getting a pay rise, not a pay cut. The pay at Stuart is bad as it is. Stuart advertises pay between £15 and £20 an hour online, but this is totally unrealistic. Once you take out the rising price of fuel, insurance, vehicle maintenance, and tax, we're making far below minimum wage. I work six to seven days a week, between eight and twelve hours, and it's obliterated my savings. I'm on my third car since I started working with Stuart because I'm doing 50 to 100 miles a day, and the wear and tear costs take a considerable amount of my earnings. All we're asking for is fair pay so we can pay our costs, earn a decent living, and have the time to see our families."
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In The Socialist 8 December 2021:
News
Unite to fight for pay and NHS we deserve
Government social care plans: Where is the money?
Uni staff and students must unite to end marketisation and for free education
What we think
Workers' politics needed to exploit Tory scandal and splits
People's Budgets
Building People's Budgets: An alternative to Tory and Labour cuts
International news
Chile presidential election - stop the far-right candidate
Unprecedented floods in British Columbia
Wider working-class and union struggle needed to win St Vincent nurses' strike
Defending abortion rights in the US
Workplace news
Universities strike - build the action and stand united to win
Thousands of Tesco warehouse workers to strike
Sandwell bin workers beat Serco and win pay rise
Panasonic workers break company pay freeze
Clarks strikers defeat 'fire and rehire'
Organise to win the NEU's 8% pay demand
Yorkshire Stagecoach bus workers' week-long strike
Worksop Wincanton logistics workers on strike
Newham Sixth Form College begins strike against academisation
Sheffield Just East couriers picket and march for pay rise
Napo ballots for trade dispute
Campaigns news
Challenge cutters and evictors in Waltham Forest Council
Fighting Fund: Help us reach over £50,000
Defying unjust laws - a rich history of struggle
Mail attacks tube strikers by stealing socialist's image
Review
Film review: The Harder They Fall
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2021