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UberEats Workers Have Reportedly Starting Striking In Sydney

"We are doing this for our colleagues, our friends who have died on the roads."

UberEats workers have reportedly started striking at NSW parliament, according to the Transport Workers' Union (TWU).

One worker reportedly mentioned the recent deaths of UberEats drivers as motivating him to strike. "We are doing this for our colleagues, our friends who have died on the roads", a worker called Esteban was reported to have said. "We've seen more pressure on them to ride faster and harder, we've seen deaths on the roads, all while billionaires get richer and riders pick up the crumbs."

At least five food delivery workers have died on Australian streets in the last few months, all of whom were in their 20s and 30s. They throw light on the problematic working conditions enabled by the gig economy. The NSW government has set up a taskforce to investigate the deaths, tasked with "[assessing] the safety measures currently implemented by each food delivery operator".

According to The Guardian, food delivery riders told the enquiry that their pay had been cut during the pandemic, meaning that companies like UberEats probably profited from the crisis.

"Year after year there is a reduction in @UberEats fares," one striking worker reportedly said. "We work in the rain, we work during the night, we work in every condition. It's not fair."

We'll keep you updated on this story as it develops.

Written by Reena Gupta, a Melbourne-based writer at MTV Australia. Follow her on Twitter at @purpletank.

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