Delivery Executives Rebel Against Dunzo In Bengaluru Due To This Reason: Refuse To Work, Strike Against Dunzo

Delivery executives for Dunzo have withheld their services in some parts of Bengaluru to protest changes in their payment structure.

Suspended services

This adds to the woes of the city’s citizens already struggling with waterlogging and flooding.

The delivery personnel refused to work on September 7 and 8 at Dunzo’s XpressMart store in Frazer Town in north-east Bengaluru.

This has resulted in the suspension of deliveries to neighbouring localities.

At the time of writing, Dunzo Daily services were unavailable in Frazer Town, Benson Town, Cooke Town, Ulsoor and surrounding areas.

“Dunzo Daily will be back in a while,” the message on the app read.

Key issues

Delivery partners are protesting against two primary issues.

One, changes in the minimum guarantee for workers and the amount of time required to be logged in.

Two, Dunzo’s alleged plan to reduce the number of workers in the Frazer Town area.

One of the partners said that they would complete 27 orders in a day and earn Rs 2,000 on top of a fixed amount per kilometre for fuel.

Pay reduced but workload increased?

The company had not only reduced the amount to Rs 1,225 but also increased the numbers of orders to be delivered to 30.

It is also accused of requiring the worker to be logged in for at least 10 hours.

One of them said that they want the company to remove the 10-hour limit and the other changes.

He said Dunzo was “batching orders” adding to disparity.

“Batching orders”

“This is unfair. I understand why this was done but all delivery workers should be treated equally,” he said.

“Batching orders” refers to when one delivery person is assigned to deliver multiple orders in the same trip.

These orders are bunched because they come from the same location and save fuel costs for the company.

Workers say that while some of them may travel to deliver one order, others may get three deliveries that are batched, which adds to their target.

Laying off people?

Dunzo executives in Frazer Town said there were 650 workers in the area but they only needed 150-200 and so wanted to let go of the others.

This has become another point of contention.

Dunzo said it was business as usual in a majority of stores in the city and that it is looking into the raised issues.

It said it worked with 75,000 delivery partners across India and they were an important part of its growth journey.

Dunzo’s statement

It boasted of having a high partner retention rate because of the benefits it offered “from one of the best incentives and reward systems, great earning opportunities to more control over their work”, a Dunzo spokesperson said in a statement.

However, it acknowledged that “a few partners, limited to a couple of locations, have raised certain issues” and that it is “engaging with them to understand their concerns and work towards an effective resolution.”

The statement further said that “services should be live in these locations also very soon. We continue to work closely with all our delivery partners to ensure that our customers get the best service.”

Earlier threat of suspension 

The strike comes at a time when quick commerce companies have curtailed services due to heavy rain.

Ironically in July, Dunzo delivery workers received a message that their accounts would be permanently suspended if they went on a strike.

“If this message was sent by us, we apologise for the mistake and will take necessary corrective measures,” a Dunzo spokesperson had said at the time.