Delivery Partners in Chennai Strike Against Swiggy's Unfair Wage

• Delivery partners strike as Swiggy cuts their pay-per-order from Rs 35 to Rs15
• Delivery executives who have been working for Swiggy in Chennai protesting against Swiggy unfair wage policy
• Foodtech companies like Zomato and Swiggy has been battling since the COVID-19 lockdown started

The Delivery partners working for Swiggy in the Chennai strike against Swiggy's unfair wage policy. According to the reports, Swiggy cuts delivery partners' pay-per-order from Rs35 to Rs15.

Delivery executives have been on the protest since last Thursday (August 13), in response to their pay cut by the food delivery companies.

In 2019, Zomato delivery executives were also in protest when Zomato cut their payout rate per delivery.

The delivery partners demanding Swiggy to roll back the old wage and incentive policy. On Saturday, about 50 delivery partners staged a strike in Royapettah while many small protests were held at different parts of the city.

Furthermore, Delivery executives also charged that their incentive has been slashed and they cannot achieve break-even with this new wage policy.

COVID-19 lockdown has punched the growth of online food delivery companies like Zomato, Ubereats, and Swiggy. Food aggregators--Zomato and Swiggy are struggling during this slowdown to get back their growth as it was earlier before the slowdown.

Moreover, The protest by delivery executives has disrupted the delivery service of the food aggregators including Swiggy. Speaking to the Indian Express, delivery staff from Swiggy said, the company used to pay Rs40 per delivery under a 4km radius. "We didn't fight when they brought it down to Rs35 per delivery. But now, they have brought it down to Rs15 per delivery under a 4Km radius. How can we feed our family at this wage rate?" the delivery partner said.

Further, If we do 20 deliveries per day, we will be able to make the only Rs300 per day which is very low, delivery partner added.

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Another delivery executive said that Swiggy must bring back the old wage rate system if they want us to stop this protest. "We have been risking our lives during this COVID-19 pandemic to ensure people won't be hungry. We sit on the pavement and eat, Swiggy needs to have a good wage rate system if they want us to get back into delivery. Delivery boy loses their dignity every day so that our family gets to eat at home. We cannot have that taken away from us,” he said.

Responding to this situation, Swiggy spokesperson said their delivery partners have been crucial parts during this pandemic as it offers essentials services to our customers. Moreover, The company has introduced the "Swiggy Hunger Savior COVID Relief Fund" to provide financial protection to its delivery executives through “income-protection insurance, sustenance support for the ones facing any hardships and coverage for all medical/hospitalization expenses related to Covid-19, not just to delivery partners but also to their family members.” 

"The company is constantly in touch with their delivery partners and trying best addressing their problems at the earliest", Swiggy spokesperson added.

COVID-19 has crashed many businesses including online food aggregators. Earlier this year Swiggy has laid off 1350 employees since the COVID-19 lockdown. On the other hand, Zomato has laid off 5000 employees since the lockdown.

An update to the situation:

“Over the last couple of days, we have had a positive dialogue with our partners to explain the revised pay-outs and assuage their concerns. As a result, most of our partners are back to delivering with us and we're serving 100% of the city of Chennai as of today (Thursday, Aug 20). We are glad that our partners were able to understand the revised service fee which continues to be the best-in-the-industry.

Once again, we would like to assert that most active partners have made over Rs 45 per order in the last week, with the high performing partners making over Rs 100 per order. Our partners earn incentives over and above this making their monthly service fee much higher. NO active Swiggy delivery partner in the city makes only Rs 15 or lesser per order on average. We understand the efforts put in by our delivery partners in making Swiggy accessible to consumers and maintain an honest approach in enabling a sustainable service fee.”

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