Sisters and brothers,
Here are some photos collected over three and a half years working as a delivery driver and loader in west London. The warehouse employs 1,400 people, out of which 600 are drivers. In most cases the work is questionable: bringing shopping to people who think their time is too precious to do the shopping themselves. Of course there are other cases, like nurseries, elderly or disabled people.
Yesterday I phoned a comrade in China who told me that, during the Corona lockdown, most blocks of flats ordered their food and groceries collectively and the supermarket delivery workers were managing to keep everyone supplied. Sometimes common sense solutions emerge in times of crisis, much more sensible than the individualised day-to-day relations of late capitalism.
In any case, the longer report about working and organising in this west London warehouse will feature in our upcoming book ‘Class Power on Zero-Hours’, which can be ordered here: https://classpower.net/order/
Early bird… the first drivers leave the yard at 5am…
If you are unlucky you have to drive a van with questionable messages…
Behind the sun visor you find the staple equipment of any delivery driver…
Behind the sun visor you find the common feeling of any delivery driver…
The most common location of any delivery driver is in traffic…
We deliver to posher people…
And not so posh people…
We deliver to many people who have given up on life…
Driving in London: accidents, pollution, 6 miles per hour average speed…
But cars are still the prime commodity of world capitalism…
But then there are always glimpses of hope on the way…
Or just random things…
Never trust the GPS…
It will take you for a leafy ride sometimes though…
The temptation of driving an insured corporate van…
One day I had to deliver to the Foreign Office…
But the cleaners were on strike…
It made my day to refuse to cross the picket-line…
After your first round you come back to the yard…
On a short shift you clock out…
Otherwise you watch mates playing ping-pong in the canteen…
Or falling asleep over our newspaper WorkerWildWest (probably the article on ‘crisis’ did it)…
You walk past the Tesco/USDAW announcement (in the small print: we give you an ‘increase’, but cut your annual bonus)…
You walk past the union reps (you will read more about their career in our book!)…
You remember that you became a union rep, because you sometimes actually have a chance to talk to people…
This sign reminds you about the limits of union power…
Perhaps because this is what they discuss at their annual delegate meeting (full story in the book, of course)…
Management also reminds you of the important things in life…
That in the end they think a little bread and a few games will keep us going…
The day manager sends you picking…
Grab your trolley…
Grab your pick-stick…
And pick the essential things of life…
Did you ever have a nightmare/ supermarket sweep fantasy of being locked in a supermarket overnight?
But then there are always your colleagues for a laugh…
And the loaders to hang with, they don’t take no shit…
The bosses must think we are masochists…
Our work is seasonal…
Which became clear during the onset of Corona-fever in the UK…
Vans full of handwash and canned food…
Out on the last round…
Some estate near White City…
The last drivers come back to the yard around midnight… and on and on, the struggle continues!
