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From The Socialist newspaper, 26 January 2022
Sheffield Just Eat strikers step up action and hold mass rally
Just Eat mass rally, photo Alistair Tice (Click to enlarge)
Alistair Tice, Sheffield Socialist Party
"Just Eat-Stuart, you're no good, pay your workers, what you should!" was the chant as over 100 trade unionists and students in Sheffield rallied in support of delivery drivers on their 31st day of targeted strike action against company pay cuts. Banners in four languages reflected the ethnic minority background of most of the couriers, and also the international reach that this gig economy dispute has had.
One of the drivers, Bryn, described how because of the 24% cut in the base rate of pay introduced by Stuart on 6 December he had to work longer, drive much further, and saw his family less, just to pay the bills. Another driver, Pastor Luke, called the strike "a war" against Stuart and Khalil said: "We're winning, and we will win!"
Lots of supporters expressed their solidarity, including Socialist Party member Holly Johnson, speaking on behalf of 'NHS Workers Say No'.
On day 32 of the strike, 25 drivers, mostly members of the IWGB independent union, met at the weekly strike committee and voted to step up the action by targeting Greggs shops (which only use the Just Eat delivery app) across teatime, and locking down six outlets (including McDonald's, KFC and Subway) in the afternoons at Woodseats retail park, and refusing to accept any orders at any client at any time for less than £4.
Having forced Stuart into face-to-face meetings, won improvements over car insurance renewal and the restoration of paid waiting times, and with strike action restarting at Sunderland, Chesterfield and soon in Blackpool, the drivers are determined and confident that they can stop the pay cuts and win recognition for the IWGB. Then they will take the fight to UberEats and Deliveroo, whose pay is even worse.
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In The Socialist 26 January 2022:
What we think
We need a workers' alternative to big business Tories and Labour
News
Lords reject parts of anti-protest bill
Social care providers put profit before residents' needs - nationalise care now
Cost of living
Trade unions and the cuts
Trade unions and the fight against council cuts
Workplace news
Sheffield Just Eat strikers step up action and hold mass rally
Oaks Park School: valiant strike exposed state of schools
Education: Workload and inflation goes up, incomes fall
DWP reps demand action from PCS leadership
10,000 tube workers vote to strike - don't make workers pay for TfL funding crisis
Strike action by Carmarthenshire winter gritters wins concessions from council
Universities: Strike action at 68 in two disputes
Worksop Wincanton logistics workers begin ninth week of strike action
International news
Trade unionists in the USA fighting back
Campaigns news
Hundreds protest to save St Mary's Leisure Centre in Southampton
Wakefield TUSC - Fighting for low-paid workers and NHS
Eviction resistance on the march in Waltham Forest
This is students' chance to fight back - help build 2 March NUS walkout
Environment
Britain's waterways choked with a 'chemical cocktail'
Readers' opinion
War in Yemen, made in Harlow, profit for rich
UK Covid-19 mortality similar to Spanish Flu
It's my party, and I'll lie if I want to
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