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."