Food couriers in the Nordic countries slowly but surely being covered by fair employment conditions

At the end of January, the Danish trade union 3F Transport concluded a national collective agreement for food distribution services. Their negotiating partner was the Danish Chamber of Commerce. The Danish food giant Just-Eat, which employs 600 couriers, was the first to sign the agreement.

The 3F newsletter Fagbladet describes the agreement as ground-breaking by Danish standards. The agreement, which comes into force later this year, considerably improves conditions for couriers without imposing additional costs on consumers.
Among other things, the agreement secures a regulated wage, maternity pay, holiday pay and sick pay for couriers who deliver pizza, burgers and other takeaway meals to Danish consumers, provided their employer signs the collective agreement.

It took two years to draw up the agreement. The end result was worth the effort, comments Just-Eat’s CEO Carsten Boldt . In Fagbladet, he predicts that in the future it will become easier to recruit and retain couriers.

According to Morten Schønning Madsen, deputy director of the Danish Chamber of Commerce, the agreement guarantees competitive pay and employment conditions.

"We therefore hope that other companies will sign up to the agreement as well. The agreement is nationwide and can be used by all food delivery companies”, he says in Fagbladet.

According to Kim René Busch, bargaining secretary at the trade union 3F, the collective agreement also gives Danish consumers a choice.

"They can now choose between good and decent working conditions or the opposite."

Progress in Sweden too

There is also good news from Sweden. The Swedish transport workers’ union Transport is finalising a collective agreement with Foodora.

In January, the negotiating partners, Foodora and Transport, agreed the content of a new collective agreement for moped and cycle couriers delivering restaurant meals.

The collective agreement sets minimum conditions and comes into force on 1 March 2021. The exact details of the agreement will not be revealed until it has been approved by both Foodora’s board and Transport’s executive committee. As of 2 February, the agreement had not yet been approved. Read more here (in Swedish).

In Norway there is a collective agreement covering the entire company that secures employment conditions for Foodora cycle couriers around the country.