Food Delivery Partners Are ‘Logging Off’ To Protest Against This New Rule: Income Reduced Significantly

A section of food delivery partners in Bengaluru have started to “log off” from a food delivery app to express their unhappiness with the new payment system introduced.

At HSR Layout, a section of the food delivery partners logged off from the mobile app and held a protest

They allege that the new pay system introduced by the aggregator has hit their earnings.

Wage Not Enough To Cover Fuel, Ride To Restaurant

According to the new system, delivery partners have to work in fixed time slots, which is not beneficial.

They say that they are not getting prime booking hours such as lunch or dinner time.

Incentives which were provided earlier for completing the targets have been withdrawn.

They now get paid for the distance covered from the restaurant to the customer and no payments are made for the distance covered to reach the restaurant.

Significant Drop In Earnings

Because of all this, their earnings have dropped significantly.

Earlier, after working for 16 to 17 hours they would make between Rs 2,300 and Rs 2,500 per day.

But now with the new system, the earning has dropped to Rs 1,800 of which Rs 500 is spent on fuel alone.

Most of the delivery partners have families and depend on daily earnings. 

Demanding Recognition As Workers

They are encouraging more delivery partners to log off so that the aggregator attends to their grievances.

They have reached out to peers through social media to participate in the drive.

The United Food Delivery Partners Union (UFDPU) demanded worker status for delivery partners.

It also wants the state government to bring out legislation to regulate food delivery platforms. 

Slot Allocation In Name Of ‘Gigs’

Vinay Sarathy, president of UFDPU explained that the present situation was started by a new payment system introduced about a month back.

Instead of the earlier payout system for the number of deliveries made by the food delivery partner (FDP), the new system gives them time slots it calls ‘gigs’.

The slots are fixed like 7-11am, 11am-1pm and on and on and these slots are reserved for the company’s preferred FDPs.

This directly affects earnings since service charges change during peak and non-peak hours.

This has led to their earnings shrink by 30%, increased working hours and uncertainty in getting delivery orders, resulting in hardships.

Swiggy Responds

Swiggy said that none of its FDPs took part in the strike and that it is limited to Zomato partners.

It is not planning on implementing anything related to time slotting for FDPs and will not be reducing earnings of its partners.

Zomato Responds

Zomato acknowledged that revisions have been made but that it was a case of misunderstanding.

The changes have been introduced to help students and those in other streams. 

The issues will be clarified with the FDPs, the spokesperson said.