A week ago we informed about the strike action at the Glovo Platform in Grudziądz. And today we are talking to Pele, one of the people participating in this strike.
Hi! First of all, congratulations on the campaign, and secondly, thank you for agreeing to talk to us.
And going straight to the questions, could you start by telling us what delivery services in Grudziądz look like? What platforms do you work for? How many people are there? Are there any suppliers working directly for pubs or shops (without platforms, e.g. directly at a local pizzeria)?
Pele: in Grudziądz there is only Glovo and dobre.pl. But orders from Pyszne.pl are fulfilled by Stava.
Ok, so how many people work for these Platforms? What do you think, do most people do it as sole proprietorships or through the so-called Fleet Partners?
Virtually all of us work through fleet partners.
Why did you decide to protest? Why did you decide to go on strike? How did you organize (call) yourselves? what actions did you take before the strike?
We decided to go on strike because the Glovo platform has been lowering our delivery multipliers for some time. However, the apogee of all this was the reduction of multipliers to 1.4 practically for the entire day. We were fed up with hiring new couriers and opening the schedule even when there are no orders. During deliveries, in various conversations, a group of several couriers came up with the idea of taking a protest action, and after talking to other couriers, we came to the conclusion that the only solution was a one-day strike.
Have you contacted the Platform in any way?
We had contact with the city manager on behalf of Glovo, who stated that the multipliers would not affect our earnings. As soon as they found out that we were going to protest, the guardian organized a Zoom call with several people. We presented our demands and they said we shouldn’t worry, everything will be fine. We talked about the fact that you always have to ask for a rain allowance, that the “call a courier” option does not work in our city, that multipliers have been lowered, that there are problems with Biedronka, that new couriers are constantly being hired, especially at a time when there is little orders.
Wait wait. What are the problems with Biedronka?
It goes like this: for example, at 10:00 you will receive your order. But once there, the store employee states that the terminal is not working and that the order is not ready for pickup. And you stand and wait, or you cancel and you have wasted your time. And if you receive the order, e.g. fifteen minutes later, it suddenly works for them. Of course – this is not true. Because if they have a lot of customers in the store, they simply have no way to prepare this order. But these are only two places in Grudziądz with such adventures. And when you receive an order there, you don’t know whether you should write to Glovo support immediately to cancel the order or simply rewrite it. Not to mention the fact that sometimes the ladies in the stores are rude to us and treat us like a necessary evil. Of course, the guardian says that he can’t do much with the Ladybirds.
Coming back to your strike: how long did it last, what did it involve and how many people took part in it?
The strike took place on Saturday, March 9, 2024 and consisted in not cooperating with Glovo on a given day. Approximately 90 percent of couriers participated in the campaign. Only those who, unfortunately, knew nothing about the operation traveled. She was quite spontaneous, and it was not possible to inform everyone. And those who are satisfied with delivering orders for PLN 20 gross per hour worked.
What kind of reactions did you encounter? What do pubs and customers say about this? Have any local authorities expressed interest in you?
All restaurants in Grudziądz supported our demands and wholeheartedly supported us to fight. Even the regional manager of McDonald’s, who coincidentally was in Grudziądz at the time, supported us and they switched off from Glovo for the whole day. Due to the spontaneity of the action, we did not inform anyone for obvious reasons. We only informed the Glovo manager that we do not agree with the dictatorship of the platform and we will take action.
What about the media? Or maybe you posted your reports somewhere? What were all the reactions to it?
An event was created on Facebook. We also informed on various Facebook groups, but the posts were deleted by Fleet Partners. The reaction to our strike is that our excellence ratings have been lowered to such a level that we are unable to book work hours. Apparently this is a block on the accounts in the application, because the rating still does not change after a week. There were also bans, where a given user did not drive for a week and received a 24-hour ban for copying orders. What’s more, on Monday [March 18, 2024 – ed.] Navitol is organizing recruitment in our city. At the same time, a lot of recruitment advertisements through Partners appeared on Olx. But why? There are enough of us. Moreover, the supervisor stated that the wage rates had increased and that at the beginning of February they were lower than now, which is an obvious lie.
So what’s next? Are you planning any next steps?
We dream of a nationwide strike, because unfortunately the Glovo platform treats us like it did in the times of the Polish People’s Republic. Be happy that you’re driving, and if it’s for a bowl of rice, they don’t care.
And just one last thing: if someone would like to contact you, what would they do?
Easy. Let him write to me: pelunia-malpa-onet.pl
Thank you very much for the interview!
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