Workers from the Collectif des coursier-e-s (an organisation of Deliveroo riders) protested on 27 January at the Brussels offices of SMart - the organisation that administers their work contracts. They were supported by activists from the BTB union and a delegation of 25 Deliveroo riders from the FNV union who had traveled from the Netherlands.
<?UMBRACO_MACRO tweeturl="https://twitter.com/SteyaertS/status/957536218564186112" ismedia="1" macroAlias="Tweet" />
Jean Bernard from the Collectif des coursier-e-s said: "We're here today to demand fixed contracts at Deliveroo. Yesterday we presented a proposal for a collective labour agreement. We can't stop here, we have a conciliation meeting on Monday but we're showing that we're here and we're very determined to win."
Dutch Deliveroo driver Thomas van Drielen said the workers were determind to defeat the company's efforts to make drivers "fake freelancers", pledging to "continue taking action until Deliveroo listens to us".
Mac Urata, ITF automation/future of work coordinator, commented that the protest showed that so-called 'gig economy' companies like Deliveroo would not get away with using labour classification loopholes to slash wages and working conditions. He added that the riders had the full support of the ITF family in their battle to stop Deliveroo escaping its responsibilities to its workers.
