Deliveroo encouraged restaurants to call the police on its riders’ strikes for fair pay and working conditions, openDemocracy has learnt.
Hours before a strike in London on 2 February, Deliveroo emailed its partner restaurants urging them to call the police and “request they clear individuals from the location” if they felt “under threat” from the riders or saw them “loitering” or engaging in “anti-social behaviour”.
Those behind the action were astonished by the firm’s message. Alex Marshall, the president of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) – which has been supporting the strikers – told openDemocracy that it amounted to “deliberately inflammatory” language against a group who were already often victimised.
