By Robert Cosgrave
At the end of October, Nuvion Group, the parent company of Fastway Couriers, went into receivership. This was a result of all too common financial trickery, with venture capitalist owners saddling the company with debt that in the context of a slowdown in parcel deliveries from the pandemic-era boom for couriers, and compounded by the further global economic instability provoked by Trump’s tariffs, it was unable to maintain.
Three hundred directly employed workers, mostly in the depots, and hundreds more delivery drivers operating in a system of “self-employed” contractors and franchisees have had their livelihoods completely upended by the dubious financial games played above their heads. And this comes just a few weeks out from the always financially stressful Christmas period. For these workers, the stress of losing their jobs is being added to by the fact that they can’t sign on or find new work until the end of a consultation period at the start of December, or they will lose any entitlement for wages owed or redundancy payments. To add insult to injury, Interpath Advisors, the appointed receiver, has said it won’t be until the new year, likely well into February, before workers can expect any redundancy money coming their way.
Rampant exploitation
It is a total disgrace that workers would be expected to wait months for money that is owed to them. Similar to the closure of Debenhams in 2020, it shows how workers suffer on multiple fronts when faced with closures, first in the form of job losses and then in being the last in line to receive any money owed to them. It’s a system that operates on the hope that a number of workers become dejected and just take work elsewhere rather than fight for what is theirs.
For the drivers who are not directly employed by Fastway, but instead operate either through franchises of the company or as nominally self-employed contractors, the situation is far worse – as the company technically owes them nothing, despite these drivers being the basis of their whole business. While companies like Fastway present self-employment for drivers as offering greater freedoms, the reality is that the freedom is for these companies themselves. Drivers are just as beholden to the company as regular employees are – often competing for the most profitable routes for example – while enjoying no protections. If you’re sick or need time off or if you have issues with your van, you’re out of pocket, let alone what happens when the company goes belly up, as we’re seeing now.
Solidarity needed
Former workers have engaged in a number of protests outside the company’s depot in Greenogue, Co. Dublin. In fighting for what they’re owed they should get the support of all workers, trade unionists, and left activists, who shouldn’t let employers or receivers off the hook. If they won’t budge, the protests should be extended to other depots and escalate if needed – with undelivered stock in the depots, they have an important source of leverage.
At the same time – and speaking from personal experience in the sector – it is clear that the whole model on which courier companies operate is completely rotten, and what Fastway provides is an image of a sector which has been at the forefront of a massive race to the bottom in terms of jobs and conditions. Companies bid for contracts off retailers chiefly on the basis of how quickly and how cheaply they can get goods from the retailers to the customer. To manage this, low wages are the norm, drop rates and management pressure force workers to work beyond exhaustion, particularly in the peak Christmas period. Through agency staff, sub-contractors and bogus self-employment – none of which is exclusive to this sector, but is felt sharpest here – employers can wash their hands of even the basic statutory obligations they have to employees.
This creates massive downward pressure on workers across all companies, including in the few unionised companies in the sector. Such a race to the bottom needs to be resolutely fought back against on an industry-wide basis by trade unionists and left activists.
