By our correspondent in Moscow
In April, Left Horizons carried a report on a strike by delivery workers in Moscow. Their wages and conditions had been attacked after the start of the so-called special military operation in Ukraine, which reduced demand for delivery services.
Since then, their conditions have not got any better. On the contrary, for workers at the company Delivery, which was bought out by Yandex, they have got worse. In late November Yandex couriers in Moscow organised a new strike. Now they are out on strike again. But this time, their action has got a much bigger echo in cities outside Moscow, such as Voronezh and Volgograd.
Spontaneous strike action
Like the strike in the spring, this new one in November was spontaneous. The arrest of an activist from Profsoiuz kurierov (the trade union of couriers), created the impression that this trade union organised it, but actually the vast majority of the couriers on strike were not members and engaged in a spontaneous action.
Last year, the trade union of couriers led a series of local disputes. But this year it went awol. One reason for this, is that couriers are not recognised as the employees of the companies they work for. Technically, couriers are self-employed and negotiate for themselves with the aggregator who plans their deliveries.
Trade unions cannot therefore negotiate a collective contract with the delivery company. Without recognition, it is difficult to build strong trade unions, and without strong unions it is difficult to force the company to agree to the demand to recognise its workers.
However, it is possible to organise a trade union of self-employed staff that has a stronger position in negotiating with delivery companies. But the so-called trade union of couriers did not do this. In reality, it was a non-governmental organisation that represented the individual rights of couriers, rather than their collective rights as a group of workers.
So, independently of any organisation, about six hundred couriers went on strike in November in response to bad pay and terms of work. Their demands were:
- To increase the minimum tariff to 110 rubles
- To reduce the zone of delivery to 2 km
- To abolish fines, for example for problems encountered in delivering in bad weather
- To allow multi-orders only by mutual agreement, and only if they are paid for at the full rate
- To introduce an extra payment when couriers wait more than 20 mins for an order
- To recognise Yandex.eda as the employer and negotiate a compulsory labour contract
The strike did not lead to any immediate concessions from the company, but it had an effect on mobilising the couriers. A video in which Nugazy Alibekov, the leader of the couriers, explained the conditions and demands of the couriers attracted over 100,000 views on YouTube. This is unprecedented in recent years and shows widespread support for the couriers and for strike action.
The official press of the Communist Party (CPRF) also publicised the dispute and the CPRF deputy Obukhov of the State Duma group, together with CPRF deputies from the Moscow Duma, Pavel Tarasov and Evgeny Stupin, spoke to a delegation of couriers at the party’s Moscow headquarters. This close contact between the CPRF and the couriers and the workers’ media coverage has lifted the expectations of couriers in their struggle.
The new trade union: the workers’ union of couriers
But couriers still need to establish a trade union to push forward their struggle and win recognition from Yandex. Thanks to the coverage that they received in November, a group of couriers decided to form a trade union that organises couriers as self-employed workers. This new trade union is called Rabochii soiuz kurierov (the workers’ union of couriers). It already has branches in Moscow and Voronezh, and it has called a strike from December 20 to 25.
The urgency of such a new trade union in the logistics sector has become more widely apparent in recent weeks. Workers at a logistics centre of Ozon in Moscow province suffered from an outbreak of meningitis. They could not afford not to go into work, and at work the ventilation is not good enough. Workers of the online retailer Wildberries have also been on strike in Moscow and Irkutsk provinces.
Returning to the couriers, in an attempt to avert the strike, Yandex made some token concessions, such as increasing the rate of pay for waiting for orders. But it did not agree to the main demand, namely recognition that the couriers work for it, which is a first step to concluding a collective agreement. The couriers therefore began their strike as planned.
The strike begins
The first two days were a success. Over 2,000 couriers were out in Moscow, with the strike spreading to Saint Petersburg, Voronezh, Krasnodar, Cheboksary, Tiumen and other towns.
This new strike has hit Yandex harder than before. Couriers have shown data from the company that reveals that many of the slots in Moscow and elsewhere have not been taken due to couriers observing the strike. Maps that show the availability of couriers visibly display how the wait for deliveries has gone up sharply and how Yandex.eda has had to scale back its operations as a result.
In order to minimise its losses, Yandex is forcing taxi drivers who work for it to deliver food. But these taxi drivers are formally self-employed workers, rather than Yandex employees, too. These taxi drivers have bad terms and conditions and are now getting low tariffs for working as strike breakers.
By doing this, Yandex is spreading news of the strike to another sector of its workers and highlighting how taxi drivers and couriers have common interests. The workers’ union of couriers is appealing to taxi drivers to join its ranks too, but that recruitment process is only just beginning.
Yandex is the biggest IT company in Russia and its search engine outcompetes even Google’s Russian-language search engine. It recently separated out its international business in response to western sanctions. The company that remains in Russia has the profitable parts of the business and works closely with the government.
Yandex, therefore, has massive scope to influence what its own search engine discloses about the strike. It has also used its financial might to buy coverage of the strike in a manner that it chooses. In order to counteract the power of the company, striking workers need the support of labour movement activists internationally.
Support the striking couriers!
For those who can understand Russian, a YouTube video here outlines their case. Please send messages of support to editor@left-horizons.co.uk or leave comments after the report (below) so we can pass them on. In due course we will publish an e-mail address for the couriers’ union.
