The Voluntary Partnership Agreement provides that GMB have rights to collective bargaining on pay and consultation rights on benefits and other issues, including riders' health, safety and wellbeing.

The agreement also recognises that Deliveroo riders are self-employed, stating that “The Partners accept that Riders for Deliveroo are self-employed and in business on their own account and Deliveroo is just one of many clients and customers with whom they may work.”

The latest UK Court of Appeal judgment in 2021 confirmed that riders for Deliveroo were self-employed.

As reported in their online newsroom, Deliveroo riders are currently paid the national living wage and most of them also earn significantly more than this. This pay floor will be guaranteed as part of the agreement and will be discussed annually with the GMB.

Will Shu, Deliveroo founder and CEO, said, “We are delighted to partner with the GMB in this first-of-its-kind voluntary agreement, giving self-employed riders flexibility, guaranteed earnings, representation and benefits. Deliveroo has long called for riders to have both flexibility and security and this innovative agreement is exactly the sort of partnership the on-demand economy should be based on. This voluntary partnership is based on a shared commitment between the GMB and Deliveroo to rider welfare and wellbeing. Together, we are focusing on what matters most to riders”.

The agreement, unique for its content, follows the signing, last February, of a Memorandum of Understanding between Uber and International Transport Workers Federation, representing a first step of dialogue between a platform company and trade unions at a global level, confirming the commitment of both parties to open roundtable discussions and to collaborate on measures to benefit drivers and couriers, even if the employment status of these workers – the most controversial and debated point – was excluded from the discussion.

The path of social dialogue was already initiated also in other countries: we have already reported on similar initiatives in Spain, with the signing of the first collective agreement for riders.