Food delivery riders want companies to show how they decide pay. The riders work for Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and Just Eat. These riders say their earnings have dropped recently. A man named David works as a rider in Edinburgh. He has worked there for seven years. He says he now makes half the money. He works the same number of hours. This makes him very upset. He stands with other riders in Bristo Square. They talk about their problems. Many riders have worked in Edinburgh for years. They watch their pay go down. But they still deliver the same number of orders.
A group called the Workers' Observatory helps the riders. This group has riders and university teachers. The teachers work at St Andrews and Edinburgh. They want to learn how the platforms work. They want to help riders challenge their pay. A man named Xabier Villares is a lead organiser at the observatory. He has been riding for eight years. He says big changes happened in the last three years. He used to work four or five days a week. He could pay his rent and bills. Now he cannot do this.
Riders want to know how algorithms set their pay. An algorithm is a set of rules. A computer follows these rules. The companies hide this information. The riders work in the dark. They do not know why their pay goes up or down. A man named Cailean Gallagher leads the observatory. He says the companies hide a lot of data. Riders want fair pay. They want to see how the system works.