INTERNET ACTIVISM WORKS- GLASGOW'S BUBBLE TEA
- marybolingbroke
- Mar 7, 2017
- 2 min read
Last month, Scotland's own Better than Zero began to draw huge attention to themselves on social media. Better than Zero are a movement dedicated to fighting precarious work and exploitative contracts. At the beginning of February, former and current employees at a Mooboo Bubble Tea store in Glasgow made allegations to Better than Zero that trainees were made to work for 40 hours with no pay or guarantee of a job.
The news garnered a lot of attention on Facebook, and people soon took to Mooboo's social media profiles to confront them. Posts and reviews on their Facebook were deleted swiftly, and users found themselves blocked on Twitter.
A popular business in Glasgow, Mooboo were soon in the spotlight not just in Glasgow, but all over the UK. Better than Zero's next step in tackling Mooboo's exploitative training policy was to launch a petition on 38 Degrees. The message of the petition was simple: the company must pay trainees and employees for every single hour that they work. The petition gained traction quickly and, with coverage from outlets as big as Buzzfeed, it garnered over 10,000 signatures in less than 4 days after being issued on 20th February. By the beginning of March, Mooboo issued a vague statement on Twitter.
It wasn't up to scratch for Better than Zero, who wanted clear policy change in writing for everyone to see.
It is clear that Mooboo are avoiding losing more money in this campaign by not acknowledging a request to backpay trainees who worked 40 unpaid hours. Whether they will or have is unclear, but it is clear that internet activism is effective with the right coverage. Within a month, a small-scale internet campaign challenged a company and had their policy changed, reaching MPs and the biggest national media outlets in Britain.
Young people face flack for relying on the internet to seek justice but it seems this is now a viable way to get things done. Large amounts of people are easier to assemble in signatures of an online petition than in the street; companies do not want bad publicity on social media as everyone can see it. Online movements are quick, effective, and easy to share. Justice has been served in Glasgow with one employer.
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