‘It’s a nightmare’: couriers mystified by the algorithms that control their jobs

From pay shortfalls to being dropped by apps, drivers face a range of issues - often with no way to fix them

Most days a thicket of couriers can be seen around the McDonald's in Northern Ireland's Ballymena, waiting for orders and discussing the mysteries of the systems that rule their working lives.

This week gig workers, trade unions and human rights groups launched a campaign for greater openness from Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo about the logic underpinning opaque algorithms that determine what work they do and what they are paid.