Protests by Swiggy delivery executives in Chennai over incentives being rolled back entered its third day as delivery executives continue to demand that the management to roll back more than 20 incentives, they claim were cancelled by Swiggy.
The delivery workers claim that the company announced an incentive of Rs 1,000 for those who come online and take orders this week amidst the protest.
One of the delivery executives at the forefront of the protest claimed, “They are just trying to lure us with temporary incentives. However, we won’t budge for this because we know this is a promise to make us join back to work. We are demanding for a permanent solution.”
However, they claim that these are only temporary incentives being used to lure them back to work. “They already tried to give us a temporary incentive and we all joined duty. But within a few days they went back to cancelling the incentives. So, this time we are planning to not give up and all the workers in Chennai are united unlike last time.”
Delivery executives in Chennai have been protesting since August 14 after Swiggy allegedly cut over 20 incentives including weekly and monthly incentives citing the coronavirus induced lockdown. The company also reduced the incentives for taking long distance orders and delivering during rain. Swiggy also increased the daily target amount, the executives said.
The protest by Swiggy delivery executives has resulted in the disruption of food delivery services in many parts of Chennai. “Swiggy is trying to call back the employees who they blocked a few months back for reasons of taking less orders or being inconsistent. They are unblocking them and sending orders to those delivery partners,” he alleged.
The executive further claimed that despite the protests, the management has not come forward to have a word with them. “Even the manager has not come forward to talk to us. We are just receiving text messages saying we will be removed if we don’t login and we will be blocked if we stop the executives who are delivering food. They also said that they will not provide an insurance claim,” said the delivery executive.
The company responding to the protest earlier said that the company has always acknowledged the efforts of executives and provided them best-in-the-industry fixed pay-out and incentives. The delivery partners are allowed to take 100% of tips from customers and the company also initiated ‘Swiggy Hunger Savior COVID Relief Fund’ for providing financial protection including income-protection insurance and hospitalization expenses for COVID-19, Swiggy said.
In a statement, Swiggy said that the reports regarding Chennai delivery partners earning Rs 15 per order were “inaccurate” and their service fee is based on multiple factors “to adequately compensate our partners including distance travelled, waiting time, customer experience, shift completion and incentives.”
“This Rs 15 component is ONLY ONE of the seven components of the payout. Naturally, zero active delivery partners in the city have earned only this component. Most delivery partners who have actively delivered during the week made over Rs 45 per order. In fact, the highest performing partners made over Rs 100 per order across the entire week,” Swiggy maintained.
It added that they want to make sure that the delivery fee is sustainable even during these times, and that they are seeing an upward trend in orders. “..., we remain committed towards the well-being of our delivery partners and helping them understand their service fee payouts better,” they said.