RECOGNITION DEAL AT DH

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june 2021 :: RMTnews 6 We all know how exploitative the gig economy is with these companies’ hell-bent on avoiding their responsibilities to workers, especially disabled workers. While working as a black cab driver in early 2019 I was involved in a non-fault traffic accident with a minicab driver which has turned my life upside down, leaving me with a disability and needing surgery. In 2020 I applied to join a taxi app named Gett but my application to join this company was rejected. Gett’s unique selling point is that they provide a 100 per cent wheelchair accessible fleet to their passengers. However, due to my disability, Transport for London who regulate taxi services in London granted me an exemption excluding me from picking up wheelchair users as I do not have the physical ability to load wheelchair users into my taxi. It was claimed one of the reasons Gett refused to allow me to work for them was because they would not make the reasonable adjustments to their business that the equality act requires when having a disabled person working for them. The taxi branch, my branch secretary Andy Nicholls and the RMT’s legal department supported by Thompson’s solicitors have provided unbelievable support over a difficult period – but to have the rights to disability protection under the Equality Act gig economy workers need to establish workers’ rights. Workers’ rights under the ‘Employment Rights Act’ is something that these gig economy companies are desperate to avoid. RMT understands the importance of bringing the gig economy into line and ensuring that all members are protected from exploitation – can any of us afford not to be an RMT member which is a progressive trade union in a changing workplace? R MT members have won a voluntary recognition agreement with Den Hartogh, a logistics company, at its Wilton site on Teesside. The campaign started in February 2020 with workers from Den Hartogh approaching RMT South Shields office asking if they could join the union. The agreement was signed off in March 2021, with the recognition campaign run virtually through Zoom, Whats App, e-mails and phone calls due to Covid restrictions. The pictured meeting was actually the first time the members at Wilton had met with anyone from the union, organisation unit member Donald Graham. Donald said that the union had shown that even through the difficulties created by Covid restrictions it had been able to adapt and continue to help workers Organise, even when we have been socially distanced. “Chris Iley in the South Shields Office along with regional organiser Micky Thompson have really gone the extra mile, during this difficult time, to help the members at Wilton get this agreement over the line. This real meeting was greatly appreciated by members and they were able to agree through face to aface discussions, the next steps forward to make this agreement work for them,” he said. One of the newly elected Reps John Morrison said: “It’s great to actually meet directly with someone from RMT after over a year of using other ways of communicating and be able to celebrate winning Recognition together. “We are though fully aware that this is the hard work just starting. We joined RMT because there are issues in our workplace we want to get sorted and we believe RMT can help us do that, lets get it done,” he said. PROTECTING TAXI MEMBERS RMT London Taxi branch member Christopher Johnson explains how the union is protecting the rights of disabled workers in the gig economy RECOGNITION DEAL AT DH