STRATEGY OF REFUSAL / PHOTO / S-01
TITLE

Chasing the Wildcat

Falling wages catalyse strikes by food couriers.

RECORD
PLACE
London
DATES
2024
EMPLOYER
Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat
UNION
None; IWGB
DISPUTE
Pay
FRAMES
17 · all shown

Following the wave of self-organised courier strikes that brought the apps to their knees in early 2024

A courier in a full-face helmet stands with arms folded at the entrance of a Deliveroo Editions unit at night, a raised barrier arm across the doorway beside a wall sign listing the site's trading times and restaurant partners.
01 / 17
Forest Hill, London
2 February 2024
6pm
A picket guards the entrance to a dark kitchen
02 / 17
Gloved hands hold up a phone in a dark yard. On the screen an Instagram story headed Announcement shows a courier speaking to camera with the word STRIKE across his face, the icons of four delivery apps in a row beneath him.
News of the strike spreads via short form video
03 / 17
Five couriers in winter coats and helmets stand close together talking in the dark outside an industrial unit, a scooter and a traffic cone at the edges of the frame.
A driver is convinced not to scab on the strike
A line of couriers outside the Deliveroo Editions unit at night, several with arms raised in V-signs and one holding a delivery box above his head, all looking into the camera.
04 / 17
The pickets celebrate
05 / 17
A courier in a patterned puffer jacket and open-face helmet stands with arms folded and a phone in one hand, a spiked steel fence and a lit self-storage sign behind.
Three couriers stand talking in a lit yard beside wheeled bins, one looking down at a phone, the Deliveroo Editions doorway open behind them and another courier waiting on a scooter.
06 / 17
A driver arriving to collect food is informed about the strike
A ring of couriers seen from behind, helmets still on, listening to a man in a dark jacket standing facing them at the centre of the group.
07 / 17
Striking drivers negotiate with a local manager over shutting down the dark kitchen
08 / 17
Two couriers at the Deliveroo Editions door, the one nearest the camera in an armoured jacket and helmet, arms folded, grinning.
Strikers check that work has stopped at the site before leaving to reinforce pickets elsewhere
A courier sits on a scooter checking a phone, dwarfed by an illuminated Shurgard Self-Storage sign filling the wall above.
09 / 17
The pickets disperse
A courier in a Just Eat jacket walks away up a dark street towards two others, a scooter parked at the kerb.
10 / 17
Old Kent Road, London
14 February 2024
6pm
The next strike is quieter
Two couriers on scooters at night, one holding out his phone for the other, in a full-face helmet, to read.
11 / 17
Drivers use translation apps to communicate while a security guard employed to watch the dark kitchen watches on
12 / 17
Two posters taped to the side of a courier's delivery box, one in English and one in Portuguese, headed National Day of Action and Dia Nacional de Luta, calling a motorcade to 5 Old Broad Street on 23rd May.
The City of London
23 May 2024
10am
A courier in a helmet and glasses raises a clenched fist and laughs in a City street, surrounded by others with fists and placards raised, scooters lined along the kerb.
13 / 17
Couriers outside an office building, one with his arm raised mid-chant and a megaphone held up beside him, a Brazilian flag flying above the group and a Justice for Riders placard at the edge of the frame.
14 / 17
15 / 17
A battered mountain bike at the kerb with a courier's insulated delivery box strapped to the rack behind the saddle with webbing.
A DIY electric bike conversion, used in order to mitigate falling wages
Couriers stand holding placards that carry photographs and names of riders killed at work, more of the same portraits mounted on stands behind them.
16 / 17
Couriers remember workers who have died on the job, killed by a murderous industry
17 / 17
A young courier in a motorcycle jacket speaks into a megaphone, jaw set, the crowd out of focus behind him.
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