Dozens of Swiggy delivery workers in Bengaluru have been protesting since July 21 demanding better pay and incentives especially for ‘out of zone’ deliveries. The protest was organised by various delivery worker unions across Bengaluru and while most of them have called off the protest, the one organised by Delivery Boys Welfare Association continues. The delivery partners have registered their protest by logging off from their delivery partner app.
The delivery workers have alleged that there is no fixed scheme of pay and can get paid meagre amounts despite travelling long distances. “They were supposed to increase the base pay of delivery partners working for more than three years to Rs 40, which has not been done. We pay Rs 300-400 everyday for petrol and the rest of the money is not enough. We used to reach our daily targets by travelling 70-80 kms before, but now it is for 140-180 kms,” Nagabhushan, who has been a Swiggy delivery worker for five years, told TNM.
Another Swiggy delivery worker, Shivakumar, who has been working for a year said, “Swiggy has very few orders and doesn’t give us orders. Even if we go ‘out of zone,’ those orders go to Shadowfax or Rapido. Even when there is a surge of orders, we don't get them despite waiting for 1-2 hours. When we finally do take out of zone orders they pay us very less. How far can we go? We spend Rs 300 on petrol and are left with Rs 500. How can we manage with just that?” ‘Out of zone’ areas are those areas beyond those chosen by the delivery partners for their area of work.
The workers have demanded that a base pay of Rs 35 for all orders along with extra charges for long waiting time and customer touch points be given and even if the order is within one mile, the maximum amount for one mile must be paid. Some of the other demands are a payment of an additional Rs 12 for any orders that are above eight kilometres including first and last mile. Moreover, they have asked for an increase in monthly bonus and weekly petrol allowance. The workers have also sought an increase in base pay to Rs 40 for those who have worked more than three years along with Employee State Insurance (ESI) and Provident Fund (PF) benefits.
The delivery partners also raised concerns that despite having enough partners associated with Swiggy, the company outsources its orders to Shadowfax and Rapido. Shadowfax is a company that offers logistical and delivery services to various businesses, while Rapido is a bike taxi app. The partners also alleged that they get penalised even when customers cancel orders and do not get notified before their IDs are blocked for any reason. The protesting workers admitted that despite protesting continuously for five days, Swiggy representatives have not met them and they will continue to protest till their demands are discussed in person.
When TNM reached out to Swiggy with specific questions about issues faced by their delivery workers, they replied saying “Swiggy believes that delivery executives are at the core of its service. We have been in direct contact with a handful of striking delivery executives in a few pockets of Bangalore to assuage their concerns. These zones remained fully operational during this period. We continually evaluate our payout and incentive structure for delivery executives in order to ensure their earnings are at par with industry standards.”