Free Kirill Ukraintsev

Kirill is a union activist.

Kirill became the leader of the «Courier» union in June 2020. He managed to unite dissatisfied couriers into a union fighting for workers’ rights. Their first success was the full payment of wage arrears under the threat of a strike.

Thanks to the «Courier» union, delivery workers have learned to defend their interests in an organized manner and resist the employer in the legal field. Time after time «Mail.ru», the owner of the «Delivery Club» service, had to abandon the new ways to cut costs at the expense of the couriers. In October 2021, «Sberbank» and «VK» each invested 6.1 billion rubles in the joint venture «O2O Holding». «O2O» owns a 98% stake in «Delivery Club». A strike and negotiations with the management of «Mail.ru» in November 2020 became an important milestone in the fight for workers’ rights. The leadership of «Mail.ru», represented by Vladimir Gabrielyan, had to agree with the demands of the «Courier» trade union due to the large scale of the strike.

The victory was overshadowed by the beating of Said Shamkhalov, co-leader of the «Courier» union. Said was beaten in a paddy wagon. After that, the police drew up a protocol under paragraph 20.2 of Part 5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

At the end of April 2022, Moscow delivery workers decided to start a strike again. Authorities saw Kirill Ukraintsev as the organizer of the strike. «Delivery Club» is most afraid of the organized protest of couriers against the wage cuts. This is why Kirill is in jail.

The trade union continues the fight for workers’ rights.

Statement of the "Courier" union dated April 28, 2022.

Russian labor law does not protect delivery workers. Employers fine and fire us at their will. Our salaries are tiny. Our independent union "Courier" fights for the recognition and protection of delivery workers’ labor rights. By raising the awareness of couriers in protecting labor rights and upholding the right to improve working conditions, the Union seeks to improve the quality of services for clients. The outbreak of the economic crisis has become the reason for the next attack of corporations on our rights. Delivery workers are losing their jobs due to the falling demand in many Russian cities. To reduce costs, aggregators manipulate delivery rates and make our income fall rapidly. All of this causes labor conflicts, both spontaneous and organized, all over the country.

With the support of the police, employers decided to strike back and hurt delivery workers protesting against injustice. On April 25, the police detained the leader of our Union, Kirill Ukraintsev. On April 27, he was sent to a pre-trial detention center for two months. Formally, they accuse him of violating the rules for holding public demonstrations. But the real reason for the detention is an aggregators’ attempt to prevent the growth of protests. By arresting Kirill they hope to behead and demoralize our movement.

Therefore, we state our demands::

1. Release the leader of the «Courier» union Kirill Ukraintsev immediately. Terminate the absurd criminal case.
2. Organize negotiations between representatives of the «VK» and «Sber» corporations, which own the «Delivery Club», and representatives from the couriers, including released Kirill Ukraintsev.
3. Return the previous working conditions of early April, both pay and status of couriers. Stop the unreasonable blocking of couriers in the work apps and unblock the blocked ones at once.

If these requirements are not met by May 1, 2022, the Courier Trade Union will begin collective action. Spread this statement if you are not indifferent to the case of couriers, the persecution of Kirill Ukraintsev, and the Courier Union in general. In this hard time, we need your support and maximum publicity! The freedom of a person who helps others without seeking benefits for himself is at stake.

Solidarity is our weapon!
Follow the protest campaign on the «Courier» union’ Telegram channel.