Liam Byrne, chairman of the business and trade committee of MPs, said he had been ‘inundated with feedback’ from people who worked for the delivery company
During a Westminster evidence session, Evri has been accused of having its workers on “slave drivers contract” after a series of whistleblower complaints were raised.
On Tuesday, Liam Byrne, the chairman of the business and trade committee of MPs, revealed he was “inundated with feedback” from disgruntled employees at the delivery powerhouse. Workers have reportedly levelled serious allegations against the company, involving erratic payment, unreachable targets, pay cuts, harassment, exploitation, among other grievances.
Mr Byrne said: “I’m curious as to how you’re not picking this up when our inboxes have been flooded ahead of the session.”
In response, Hugo Martin, Evri’s director of legal and public affairs, admitted to being equally perplexed: “I’m also curious of that… our couriers will have frustrations around services that they provide… we don’t always get it right.
“There are numerous ways in which our couriers can tell us about how they are being treated and, I have to say, I just don’t have those emails flooding my inbox.”
However, Byrne was quick to counter: “Well, we do, I’m afraid.”
These allegations came as MPs questioned representatives from Evri, alongside Deliveroo, and retail giants Frasers Group and Uniqlo. The Government is moving forward to introduce new legislation aimed at bolstering workers’ rights, which is anticipated to be enacted next year.
Despite these challenges, Evri celebrated a record-breaking year in parcel deliveries, even bringing on board an additional 10,000 plus couriers to cope with the spiked demand over the festive season.
However, in an October report by mail regulator Ofcom, it was also ranked as the worst parcel firm for customer service. Labour’s Mr Byrne presented 10 whistleblower complaints from Evri staff to Mr Martin.
These included allegations of unfair self-employment practices, unfair parcel banding procedures, poor treatment of staff, health and safety concerns, and inadequate courier checks. Despite this, Mr Martin consistently told MPs that he did not recognise these complaints, assuring them that couriers were free to raise any issues directly with him.
