How couriers in Turkey build solidarity and protest networks through digital means

"Although the delivery courier profession dates back 30 years in Turkey, it has become widespread especially with the creation of new marketing strategies by online food ordering companies in the last 4-5 years and the development of online shopping habits. With the pandemic, home delivery has become an indispensable part of life in many sectors, especially food. There is almost no sector and business that does not work with couriers. The number of couriers reached hundreds of thousands, the highest level in history." [1]

Couriers' struggle to organize

Couriers, who started organizing with the establishment of the first courier association in Ankara in 2005, have established many associations over the years. These associations tried to unite under the roof of federations and confederations over time. As courier work became more visible during the pandemic, transportation unions, whose history dates back half a century, also sought to organize couriers. In the process, there were political formations that tried to experiment with different organizing models under the names of solidarity network, union, or committee. Last year, the Chamber of Gig Couriers was also established under the name “Ankara Chamber of Supportive Service Providers for Freight Transportation”.

Although courier organizations have increased in number and diversified over time, they have remained limited in terms of covering couriers with very different working conditions and organizing couriers whose numbers reach hundreds of thousands. Since the general situation of courier organizations is the subject of another article, we will content ourselves with a brief summary for now.[2]

The new platform for digital solidarity: WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a cross-platform instant messaging and calling application developed for smartphones in 2009. It did not take long for the application to reach a large number of users with its voice and video message, video call, image and file sending features in addition to text messaging. The name WhatsApp comes from the phrase “What's up.” Developed as an alternative to SMS technology, WhatsApp is used by more than 2 billion people in more than 180 countries to communicate with friends and family anytime, anywhere.

In 2011, WhatsApp groups were started to be used by almost every segment of the society such as family, friends, school, company, workers, fans, etc. with the introduction of the group setting feature. Features such as being easy to set up, being free of charge, the capacity to bring together users from 3 to 1024 people, and the ability of 32 people to participate in a group voice call at the same time have become indispensable in organization and organizational work.

Like everyone else, WhatsApp groups have become a part of the daily life of motor couriers. These groups range from motorcycle and equipment buying and selling groups, courier job postings, lost property groups, traffic information, slot transfer, exposing businesses hostile to couriers, barbecue, picnic, and chit chat groups. In addition to these groups, communication and solidarity groups established by couriers working in the same company have become very common in recent years. Courier solidarity groups serve a multifaceted function, from running to the help of their friends who have had an accident to collecting help for their friends, from making urgent blood announcements to quickly organizing in the event of a disaster. Of course, these groups also become the places where the problems experienced in companies and the search for solutions to those problems are discussed most actively.

Digital action in the search for rights

We can say that almost all courier associations and unions have their own WhatsApp groups. Events called by the associations are organized through these groups as well as their social media accounts. Although couriers sometimes take action as a result of discussions at warehouses or waiting areas, we can say that the preparation process of the courier protests, which have increased significantly in the last three years, is largely done through WhatsApp groups.

Sometimes problems can be discussed and protests can be organized in groups that were previously established for solidarity and that gathered active couriers in that province or district together. Sometimes groups are formed in response to current problems with the initiative of experienced couriers. But sometimes any courier who feels the need to react quickly can also form a group. Since everyone is already involved in dozens of other groups, it is not difficult to spread an established group. A group opened with a purposeful name turns into a platform where hundreds of people join in a few hours and heated discussions are held on the subject.

The protest process can be district or province-wide, or separate WhatsApp groups are established across the country for coordination purposes. It is also possible to state that the opening of “Discussion Posts/Forums” about the problem that is the source of reaction on some social media accounts that couriers actively follow is also effective in spreading the protest across the country. Under such posts, discussions such as where and how the problem is experienced, who thinks what about it, and what they suggest take place. In addition, messages such as “friends who want to do something in the X region can write to us privately, let's gather in common WhatsApp groups” can also be written as comments under those posts. In this way, couriers who seem to be unorganized, who seem to have no center, can quickly organize and create more than one center by gathering around the same goal.

Bosses' nightmare

The bosses, who are empowered by the fact that couriers do not yet have an institutional organization across the country, are of course uneasy about every medium where couriers come together. While they themselves use WhatsApp groups for managing their businesses and field operations, bosses try to prevent couriers from forming their own groups in most places. When they detect active solidarity groups, bosses or company managers, who first try to infiltrate those groups and identify active couriers, employ various tactics to disband the groups.

Sometimes bosses call group administrators directly and make open threats to shut down the groups, and sometimes they collect screenshots of group correspondence through collaborators infiltrating into the groups. Managers reach out to couriers who make comments criticizing the company's practices or like their friends' critical comments and threaten them with dismissal. Not content with this, bosses deactivate some couriers who say they will participate in protests in the groups or just react to posts with emojis, as was the case in the Yemeksepeti[3] protest process in recent weeks. Groups that cannot be disbanded with threats are intimidated by firing the couriers or sending messages to the group directly signed by the manager.

Is it forbidden to organize and protest on WhatsApp?

Platforms such as Yemeksepeti, with their gig courier system, not only burden all the expenses on the backs of the couriers, but also try to prevent the couriers' attempts to organize and claim their rights with classic boss reflexes.

Couriers' organizing through WhatsApp groups and discussing the problems they face in their workplaces are protected by certain rights and freedoms according to legislation in Turkey. Articles 25 and 34 of the Constitution regulate freedom of thought and expression and the right to peaceful assembly and protest. In this context, it is within the scope of constitutional rights for workers to voice their problems and seek solutions in WhatsApp groups. As long as the criticism does not reach the level of insult and slander, they are not legally entitled to intervene, no matter how harsh and angrily written it may be to the annoyance of the bosses.

Workers' organizing and protesting through WhatsApp groups is also based on the constitutional right to collective action and protest. In Turkey, workers have the freedom to come together in various media, including digital platforms, to organize against workplace problems and seek their rights. Organizing protests by coordinating via WhatsApp has become an effective method, especially for groups with weak institutional and professional organization, such as couriers.

Attempting to monitor, control and block WhatsApp correspondence without a court order and without authorization is an indication of the arbitrariness of the bosses. Threatening and firing workers based on illegally obtained correspondence is not only arbitrary, but also an approach that does not recognize the law. When couriers are threatened or fired in this way, they have the right to apply for legal remedies.

Solidarity and the pursuit of rights cannot be prevented

Even though bosses try to prevent organization and solidarity, hundreds of WhatsApp groups across Turkey continue to correspond even as these lines are being written.

In some groups, jobs are being found, in others second-hand equipment is being sold, and in another group a solution to a problem in the field is being sought. In some groups there may be news of an accident and the nearest couriers are on their way to the scene of the accident, in some groups a courier who wants to hand over his slot because he has an urgent job tomorrow is asking for help from his friends. In one group, the low intensity of the work is being discussed, while in another group, complaints about low earnings are being raised.

“Enough is enough, we don't want to die while we work!”, is written in who knows how many groups, independent of each other but with the same anger. “We need to come together, if necessary, we need to stop work on the same day across Turkey” continues to haunt who knows how many groups.

(MÇ/VC/VK)