Swiggy delivery executives go off road In Hyd; demand old incentive scheme

Hyderabad: As many as 3,000 delivery executives of food delivery app, Swiggy, launched a protest in Hyderabad on Tuesday, against the new incentive scheme rolled out by the company. They demanded that the old one be restored.

They took out bike rallies and stopped picking up orders from more than 100 high order volume restaurants in different parts of the city.

“During the lockdown, Swiggy has reduced minimum earning from the earlier Rs 35 to Rs 15. More than 40 per cent of the orders being placed are by people less than 4 km from the delivery point. Even though Swiggy is collecting Rs 35 as delivery charges from the customers, it is only paying Rs 15 to the delivery executives,” said Shaik Salauddin, national general secretary, Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers.

Meanwhile, Swiggy, in its statement, said: “Reports suggesting that delivery partners in Hyderabad make Rs 15 per order are completely untrue. Most delivery partners in Hyderabad make over Rs 45 per order, with the highest performing partners making nearly Rs 75 per order.”

Since morning, Swiggy delivery executives did not log in nor did they pick up orders. As a result, major restaurants in the city remained

without service for delivery on the app.

The few restaurants which were providing delivery service charged Rs 15 more than the usual as there were fewer delivery executives were available at work. Even third-party delivery companies like Rapido and Shadowfax were stopped from picking up orders.

“Delivery executives across Hyderabad were forced to sacrifice their earnings to protest against the exploiting work conditions of Swiggy. We will intensify and continue to strike until our demands are met. Due to the rise in fuel prices, we demand that we be paid Rs. 10 more per km for 0-4 km distance of delivery; Rs 15 more for 4-8 km distance of delivery, and Rs 25 more for 8 km of delivery distance. Delivery workers are paid based on km they need to cover to deliver the parcels and waiting time at the restaurant. During the peak time, like lunch or dinner hours, there are more orders to the restaurants and therefore time is taken to prepare food increases. Even though we wait for 20-30 minutes at the restaurant for an order, the company is not giving us an appropriate restaurant waiting time money. We demand that Swiggy should stop manipulating the wait time money in our earnings and give us wait time money according to the exact time we wait,” said Shaik Salauddin, national general secretary, Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers.

However, Swiggy said that “We do address the concerns shared by our delivery partners and have been in touch with them to explain the service fee structure and additional earning opportunities offered to them. With the food and essentials delivery segment continuing to register an upward trend in order volumes, and the festive and IPL season fast approaching, we expect the significant upshift in earning opportunities for our delivery partners in the coming months.”

The Swiggy executive said they will continue the protest till their demands are not met.