BEERG: First Collective Bargaining Agreement Involving UK Gig Workers Reached

The UK and European Union

Couriers working for Hermes, one of the UK’s biggest delivery companies, will have access to guaranteed minimum hourly rates and paid holidays under a trade union deal being described as the first of its kind in the gig economy.

According to the BEERG Global Labor Newsletter, the GMB union and Hermes negotiated the deal after an employment tribunal last June decided in a case brought by GMB that 15 of the company’s couriers had “worker status” rather than being self-employed contractors.

The tribunal’s award opened the way for all 14,500 of the company’s UK couriers to seek worker status, which is between an employee and being self-employed, and guarantees paid holidays and minimum wages.

Meanwhile, UK trade union revival promised by Labour: the Labour party’s John McDonnell has said that a Labour government will lay the foundations for a "large scale revival" of trade unionism, saying the party wants to "rebalance the distribution of power in the workplace" to tackle "low pay and job security."

Read the full BEERG Global Labor newsletter.