On Tuesday, the supreme court ruled unanimously that Deliveroo riders are self-employed and do not have a right to collective bargaining. After seven years of legal battles, a case brought by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) that began in Camden and Kentish Town, north London, finally reached the end of the road.
For Deliveroo, the result is a substantial victory. The decision means the company is protected from the need to collectively bargain with a union over fundamental issues such as the lack of a guaranteed minimum wage. The supreme court decided that riders were correctly described as self-employed, and that Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights – which guarantees the rights of freedom of assembly and association – does not give self-employed people the right to collective bargaining. The company can continue to operate a system that can pay riders as little as £2 an hour, can lead to 70+ hour working weeks, and thus exposes riders to health and safety risks. As I saw when I rode for Deliveroo back in 2017, it is fundamentally a business model predicated on avoiding the costs and responsibilities of fair work.
