1) Thanks for all your support with the #ShameOnOcado campaign so far. Here’s a thread of the timeline leading to the campaign & exposing some of the cruel tactics @Ocado are using to try & either force HUGE pay cuts on these key workers or force them out all together! 
2) In 2018 @Ocado saw opportunity in rapid delivery & thought they’d test it with a depot in West London. With unknown demand, they didnt commit to employee contracts & opted for exploitative gig economy model to build business. Not what you expect from household name like Ocado!
3) @Ocado outsourced the work to @Stuart_Delivery who offered workers different hourly rates on shifts or ad hoc work (but zero rights) to come build the business up. These couriers used their own vehicles, paid for their fuel & all other expenses & only did deliveries for Ocado
4) Quick note: @Stuart_Delivery are notoriously exploitative in the gig economy & the @IWGBunion have a claim against them for denying workers rights which over 100 members have joined. @Ocado are complicit in this! morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/more…
5) After countless long shifts, extremely heavy loads & shouldering all costs of the job, these workers helped build demand at the depot from zero deliveries to thousands per day. @Ocado had established a rapid delivery business off the backs of these exploited workers
6) Now demand was established, the squeezing of the workers began! Pay & conditions started to deteriorate at the site & in August 2020 I wrote to the Head of the @Ocado site to outline the exploitation & demand they treat workers better.
7) Instead of engaging with the @IWGBunion & acknowledging the error of their ways, @Ocado fob me off to @Stuart_Delivery claiming its not their problem (despite workers being integral to business). Soon after they start bringing in agency workers to force current workforce out
8) Adding agency workers means less jobs for workers. @Stuart_Delivery tell workers they will get more work if they drive green vehicles. Workers invest in expensive e-vehicles as desperate to maintain pay they have built their lives on. Pay & conditions continue to worsen
9) In July 2020 @Ocado start using exploitative gig employer @rydedelivers at the depot. Pay goes from bad to worse for drivers with some making less than minimum wage. Workers are forced to speak out and do so in @ObserverUK article by @_tomwall theguardian.com/business/2021/…
10) Drivers then send letter to @Ocado & @marksandspencer board asking that pay is returned to what they built the business on & theyre given rights theyve always been illegally denied. They want to continue to operate how they were but want fair pay & rights with the flexibility
11) Another quick note: flexibility and improved rights is completely compatible and this model would work best for both @Ocado & the workers at the depot where demand fluctuates. The recent Uber move to pay workers holiday & pension while maintaining flexibility proves this
12) PR obsessed @Ocado AGAIN refuse to engage with workers, choosing to cover tracks instead. They start recruiting more agency workers on contracts that pay massively less than what workers built business on & conditions that don’t work for workers (again to try force them out)
13) New contracts would put the workers on £1000s less per year than they were getting before @Ocado started intentionally worsening pay & conditions. They worked for years (+through pandemic) & based lives around certain rates & now are being offered pay they cant survive on
14) @Ocado are trying to use their corporate muscle to make workers requests seem unreasonable with bogus PR they are pumping out misleading public & press. These workers are seeing their lives destroyed for merely asking for what they were being illegally denied
15) @Ocado also appear to be breaking the law and not following TUPE regulations. This is when contracts change hands, workers should move with the contracts and not suffer detriment to pay & conditions. They should also engage with workers & their union to address concerns..
16) So please keep up the support & do not be fooled by the lies! Send a letter to the board using link below, join the direct action when it happens, share this tweet exposing @Ocado & show them we will not stand for the abuse of key workers #ShameOnOcado actionnetwork.org/letters/shame-…
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