"Blow to gig economy workers after UK supreme court rules against collective bargaining rights", 21 Nov 2023

Deliveroo riders do not have the right to collective negotiations on pay and conditions, the UK’s top court has ruled, in a blow to gig economy campaigners and the unions that represent them.

The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has been fighting through the courts since 2017 to have Deliveroo riders classified as “workers”, with the right to unionise and bargain collectively for better terms and conditions.

On Tuesday, the supreme court upheld previous judgments that the thousands of UK riders were independent self-employed contractors, and could not be classed as workers because they had the right to arrange a substitute to perform their duties if they did not want to or were unable to...

The union said it was considering its options to challenge the ruling under international law – having reached the UK’s highest court. Any challenge would be likely to involve taking the case to the European court of human rights, with a challenge brought against the UK government rather than Deliveroo, lawyers said.

“The supreme court’s ruling comes as a disappointment after years spent fighting a legal battle to secure riders’ bare minimum employment rights. As a union we cannot accept that thousands of riders should be working without key protections like the right to collective bargaining, and we will continue to make that case using all avenues available to us,” the IWGB said in a statement, adding that it was continuing to sign up more gig economy couriers in an attempt to hold companies to account...

Deliveroo said the outcome was “a positive judgment for Deliveroo riders, who value the flexibility that self-employed work offers”, and that thousands of people continued to apply to work with the company every week.

It pointed to a deal with the GMB union under which riders receive free insurance, sickness cover and union recognition without being recognised as workers or employees...