Bike couriers fight for employment rights

Four London bike couriers are to take their respective companies to court in a bid to get employed workers’ rights. The couriers involved are each employed by just one company but are considered self-employed contractors.

The BBC reports how couriers are typically paid per delivery rather than per hour.  

Andrew Boxer, who works for Excel, said:

"I am typical. I work for one company for around 50 hours a week. They tell me what to do, when to do it and how to do it. I am monitored, have to have company ID with me at all times, and can't take work from other companies.

"I get paid per delivery, not per hour. I am required to sign a contract which says that I am self-employed, which means I don't get any employment rights."

At the employment tribunal, he and the others will seek a declaration that they are either "employed" or "workers."

Jason Moyer-Lee, the president of their union, the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), said that employers were taking advantage of a power imbalance. "The couriers should be like all other workers and have the right to the minimum wage and paid holidays, among other things."

Another courier, Mario Gbobo, said he was injured after falling from his bike, but wasn’t ensured. He says he returned to work before the injury had healed because he needed the money.

An Excel spokesman said: "Within the London market, couriers operate as independent sub-contractors and I am confident that any tribunal will uphold this view."

The other companies involved in the case are City Sprint, Addison Lee and eCourier. City Sprint said it believed the couriers’ assertions regarding employment status to be "unfounded."

The barrister representing the couriers, Jason Galbraith-Marten QC, said a win would mean that the court had decided the four were not truly self-employed. "And that means others in similar circumstances can go to a court and say, 'it doesn't matter what it says on the contract, I am in fact a worker and can I have the same rights?"

Last year, cycle couriers staged a protest outside the offices of City Sprint, demanding the Living Wage. Organised by the IWGB, protestors carried banners reading "We dodge death to meet your deadlines" and "Higher rates now." IWBGB said that City Sprint hadn't increased rates paid to couriers for 15 years.

CitySprint contacted road.cc to refute the allegations, saying that its analysis showed that average courier earnings over the previous three years had increased by around 13 per cent.