Under fire delivery company DPD has taken a positive step -- it’s finally agreed to offer its drivers sick pay, holiday pay and access to a pension scheme. And if DPD can do it, it’s about time delivery companies Hermes did the same.

Hermes has come under fire recently for its excessive work policies and treatment of staff. Some drivers reported they’re under pressure to work shifts so long they would be illegal if they received normal worker protections, and of course this comes without any sick pay or other in-work benefits -- a common trend within the gig economy.

With DPD’s latest announcement -- following the shocking death of one of its couriers -- other delivery companies will be already be feeling the pressure to ask. So let’s make them.

Hermes: offer your couriers the right to be classed as workers, with all the in-work benefits that entails!

Right now, the gig economy employs around 1.1 million people in the UK. Many drivers in these roles are working long hours for less than the UK national minimum wage in order to try and make ends meet -- which is bad for drivers and other road users.

We need Hermes, which has had its share of workers’ rights issues and PR disasters, to step up and give its drivers the same rights as other workers.

Hermes: offer your couriers the right to be classed as workers!

Over 100,000 SumOfUs members like you fought against the ‘Uberisation’ of the economy, when Uber’s drivers in London demanded fair pay and conditions. The company was taken to task by TfL, with the courts deciding its drivers should be classified as workers. That victory showed what people powered campaigning can do. That victory showed that the great gig-economy swindle is finally up! Now let’s come together again and take the fight to Hermes!

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