UK
‘Your couriers have to use food banks’: Deliveroo accused of hypocrisy over Trussell Trust partnershipDeliveroo has joined forces with national food bank charity The Trussell Trust to provide two million meals to those in need. But critics have warned the gig economy firm’s model has left its couriers relying on food parcels themselves.
LIAM GERAGHTY
20 Apr 2022
THE BIG ISSUE
Deliveroo and The Trussell Trust have joined forces to deliver two million meals to people facing food poverty. But critics have warned Deliveroo’s model means of their riders are relying on food banks to get by. Image: The Trussell Trust
Deliveroo has been accused of “sanitising its increasingly discredited public image” by teaming up with a national food bank charity after repeated allegations of low pay.
The gig economy firm announced this week it would join forces with The Trussell Trust to deliver two million meals to people in need and to allow customers to donate to the charity’s food banks with in-app food orders.
But critics have questioned the partnership following long-standing allegations of low pay in Deliveroo’s business model. Last year a Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ)investigation found some riders were paid as little £2 an hour, while couriers in Belfast walked out as recently as last month over pay.
“Once again we are seeing Deliveroo show more concern for sanitising its increasingly discredited public image than for the welfare of its riders and drivers, many of whom are at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis,” said Ahmed Uhuru Hafezi from the Couriers Branch of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), the union that represents Deliveroo riders.
“Take a visit to food banks across London and you will see couriers filling their delivery bags with emergency food supplies for their own families, forced into relying on charity due to poverty pay and a lack of basic rights such as sick pay.
“If Deliveroo wants to tackle food poverty and hunger in the UK, it should start by paying its workers enough to cover their expenses and feed their families, rather than relying on the good will of food banks and its customers.”
Deliveroo and The Trussell Trust have joined forces to deliver two million meals to people facing food poverty. But critics have warned Deliveroo’s model means of their riders are relying on food banks to get by. Image: The Trussell Trust
Deliveroo has been accused of “sanitising its increasingly discredited public image” by teaming up with a national food bank charity after repeated allegations of low pay.
The gig economy firm announced this week it would join forces with The Trussell Trust to deliver two million meals to people in need and to allow customers to donate to the charity’s food banks with in-app food orders.
But critics have questioned the partnership following long-standing allegations of low pay in Deliveroo’s business model. Last year a Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ)investigation found some riders were paid as little £2 an hour, while couriers in Belfast walked out as recently as last month over pay.
“Once again we are seeing Deliveroo show more concern for sanitising its increasingly discredited public image than for the welfare of its riders and drivers, many of whom are at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis,” said Ahmed Uhuru Hafezi from the Couriers Branch of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), the union that represents Deliveroo riders.
“Take a visit to food banks across London and you will see couriers filling their delivery bags with emergency food supplies for their own families, forced into relying on charity due to poverty pay and a lack of basic rights such as sick pay.
“If Deliveroo wants to tackle food poverty and hunger in the UK, it should start by paying its workers enough to cover their expenses and feed their families, rather than relying on the good will of food banks and its customers.”
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