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The Postal Association, formed in November, is probably one of the “freshest” unions in the country. Not only because it is still quite young, but also because its members are trying to move their normal working relationships into a seemingly unusual field.
Electronic distribution platforms, which employ the majority of the association’s members, would appear to be perhaps the worst terrain for unions. Working on platforms such as carriers or short-term leases is always emphasized as extremely flexible, dynamic, designed for those who want to earn more without much commitment.
Couriers are not the first “platforms” to have their own union, in 2019. This was also established by Lithuanian carriers. However, the pandemic has significantly increased the number of people who work on these platforms around the clock and earn most of their income. The result is messengers trying to negotiate in an organized way with employers, which the platform administrators consider to be episodic employees.
Photo by Dmitrijs Zemenkovas / Vukas Vukotićius
Vukas Vukotičius, representative of the courier association, said his working conditions had changed less during the quarantine, but that everything had escalated significantly.
“During the first wave of the pandemic, many people went through prolonged downtime and did not know if they would go back to work. The demand for couriers has increased and this has become one of the escape options for those people. We all expected that prices also went up, but the opposite happened, “he said.
The first courier strike took place in July, when 80-100 platform workers disconnected from the system during lunch, thus refusing to provide services. According to V. Vukotičius, it worked: during the second wave, the platforms did not reduce prices, they remain more or less stable, although in some companies they change almost every day.
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