100 Couriers Strike at SMS in London
Raphael Cohen | 23.09.2004 10:17 | London
Couriers in London on strike for one week complain of management intimidation, exploitation and how their employer SMS is delivering passports using insecure scab labour. Organisers have been sacked and the workers call on TUC to support them. Where is the London media they ask.
100 Couriers Strike at SMS in London
Passports being delivered by scabs
22 September 2004
One hundred cycle and motorbike couriers at SMS have been on strike since last Friday (17/9), after representatives chosen to speak to management regarding pay and conditions were sacked. There is a large presence by strikers outside the company's London offices on Bayliss St. London SE1.
Two of the sacked organisers, Pedro and one who wished not to be named, explained that on Tuesday 14/9 when they attempted to explain workers' grievances to the London managers they were told that nothing would change and to go back to work. The London manager Deborah shouted at them to get back to work. When the representatives were invited back for further discussion on Friday the four men were told they had been sacked. The workforce walked out.
At the beginning of this week management offered to meet workers individually and declared that the reps had been sacked for "intimidation", which is strongly denied by them. This offer was rejected by the couriers and some 100 out of a work force of 150 are striking.
Pedro, a cycle courier, complained that SMS pays half the market rate for delivering passports and credit cards. He said he did 200 drops a day in NW1 and worked 12-15 hours to do this. Other courier companies paid up to double the rate. He also said that if the consignee was not home or if it was not possible to gain access, couriers received only 50-75% of the going rate of 48p (68p for motorbikes) for a credit card or 70p for a passport.
SMS, according to workers, is the UK's largest courier company. It has a £55 million pound contract with the Home Office to deliver passports. Workers complained that passports were now at risk of theft and of being carelessly delivered, as in the rush to find scabs SMS was not ensuring the necessary care that its workers have to display. This was raised with a police officer at the picket who said he would pass on concerns to SO13 at the Special Branch.
Workers also accused SMS of not being organised and of having offered to organise things for them. They were paid late or wrongly and would have to complain to receive their money. The London office of SMS pays less than other branches, where in Croydon for example a drop is worth 65p.
Since the strike began SMS has been farming out work to other companies and is able to pay them far more than it pays its own workers. It has been telling customers that its computer systems are down, not that it is in dispute with its workforce.
Workers are organising now to set up a union for couriers and have been in contact with the TUC. They are self-employed although they have to meet obligations of minimum number of drops, and after 9 months of employment they are not being offered contracts.
It is hoped that a senior manager will meet workers today.
Passports being delivered by scabs
22 September 2004
One hundred cycle and motorbike couriers at SMS have been on strike since last Friday (17/9), after representatives chosen to speak to management regarding pay and conditions were sacked. There is a large presence by strikers outside the company's London offices on Bayliss St. London SE1.
Two of the sacked organisers, Pedro and one who wished not to be named, explained that on Tuesday 14/9 when they attempted to explain workers' grievances to the London managers they were told that nothing would change and to go back to work. The London manager Deborah shouted at them to get back to work. When the representatives were invited back for further discussion on Friday the four men were told they had been sacked. The workforce walked out.
At the beginning of this week management offered to meet workers individually and declared that the reps had been sacked for "intimidation", which is strongly denied by them. This offer was rejected by the couriers and some 100 out of a work force of 150 are striking.
Pedro, a cycle courier, complained that SMS pays half the market rate for delivering passports and credit cards. He said he did 200 drops a day in NW1 and worked 12-15 hours to do this. Other courier companies paid up to double the rate. He also said that if the consignee was not home or if it was not possible to gain access, couriers received only 50-75% of the going rate of 48p (68p for motorbikes) for a credit card or 70p for a passport.
SMS, according to workers, is the UK's largest courier company. It has a £55 million pound contract with the Home Office to deliver passports. Workers complained that passports were now at risk of theft and of being carelessly delivered, as in the rush to find scabs SMS was not ensuring the necessary care that its workers have to display. This was raised with a police officer at the picket who said he would pass on concerns to SO13 at the Special Branch.
Workers also accused SMS of not being organised and of having offered to organise things for them. They were paid late or wrongly and would have to complain to receive their money. The London office of SMS pays less than other branches, where in Croydon for example a drop is worth 65p.
Since the strike began SMS has been farming out work to other companies and is able to pay them far more than it pays its own workers. It has been telling customers that its computer systems are down, not that it is in dispute with its workforce.
Workers are organising now to set up a union for couriers and have been in contact with the TUC. They are self-employed although they have to meet obligations of minimum number of drops, and after 9 months of employment they are not being offered contracts.
It is hoped that a senior manager will meet workers today.
Raphael Cohen
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