Following last Sunday’s protest in Dublin by fast food delivery workers and their supporters, Deputy Bríd Smith said the Government must act immediately to ensure these vulnerable workers’ safety and to improve the disgraceful pay and working conditions they have experienced for many years.
She said: “These workers, many of whom are international students, work for companies such as Deliveroo and Just Eat, who in an effort to circumvent worker’s rights and proper pay and conditions, falsely classify the workers as self-employed. This must be called and stamped out for the flagrantly abusive practice it is. Delivery workers must no longer be subjected to the level of exploitation they have been experiencing for years. Neither should they have to face the dangerous conditions they experience daily in their work when they are often confronted by violent bike thefts and incidents of racism.
“We, in People Before Profit, stand firmly with these workers and strongly urge the Government to ensure that that their workers’ rights, welfare and safety is addressed as a matter of priority.”