Swiggy strike

Striking Swiggy workers sit down. | NewsClick Delivery persons working for Swiggy—one of India’s largest online food ordering and delivery platforms—have been on strike in multiple cities of the country over the past week. The scale of this labor action is expanding, as an increasing number of these workers down tools in a protest against the squeeze on their earnings. While the delivery costs charged to the customers have increased, delivery persons complain that their basic pay per delivery has been decreased to less than half—reduced from Rs. 35 (USD 0.47) per order to Rs.15 (USD .20). Incentives and other charges paid to riders, which vary from city to city, have also been sharply reduced. Having worked throughout the lockdown—risking COVID-19 which many have contracted on duty—delivery riders are now left with little to show as earning after deducting the cost of fuel and maintenance of their vehicles. In the south Indian city of Chennai, workers on strike have been holding a number of demonstrations. Protests on a smaller scale have also been held in a number of other cities, including Hyderabad. Striking workers in all these cities have complained that the company, instead of addressing their grievances, has been blocking their work ID cards. This, in effect, is a summary dismissal because their contracts do not identify them as employees of the company, but as ‘delivery partners’, who are only to be paid per delivery. WhatsApp groups of Swiggy workers have been see...

About 3,000 delivery executives of food-delivery app Swiggy are set to go on an indefinite strike from Tuesday. “Our old incentive of ₹35 has been trimmed to ₹15. The surge fee we used to get during summer and during rainy season also has been done away with,” said Shaik Salauddin of Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers. Swiggy could not be reached for a comment, though the company released a statement through a PR firm that the delivery executives get ₹45 per order and better performing executives get ₹75 per order. The workers said they are planning protests at multiple locations, will not deliver food and would picket restaurants. The workers also cited discrepancies in calculation of waiting time at restaurants and distance covered as a reason for the strike. “I used to make up to ₹ 40,000 per month before lockdown. Now I am making upto ₹ 25,000 as the incentive amount has been reduced to ₹15. I used to make that much money in fewer hours but now even after 12 hours I am unable to match my earlier earnings,” said one delivery executive unwilling to go on record.

Swiggy delivery partners in Chennai go on strike, demand better pay and working conditions Delivery partners say the company pays them only ₹5 per km, which is not even enough to cover petrol costs; their demands also include pay parity among staff, as well as new uniforms and new delivery bags at set intervals May 23, 2023 12:56 pm | Updated 01:47 pm IST - CHENNAI Deliveries via the Swiggy food and groceries delivery app remained slow on Tuesday in Chennai, as a section of its delivery partners continued with their indefinite protest that began on Monday, demanding increased pay and better work conditions. Delivery partners said they were being paid only ₹5 per km, which was hardly enough to cover even petrol costs. “Those attached to the Instamart vertical that delivers groceries are being paid even lower amounts. We have no place to air our grievances. We are fed up with our work,” said a delivery partner, who works with the delivery app on a part-time basis. “I cannot survive just on this income, which is why I also work with another agency,” he added. S. Ramakrishna, founder of the Tamil Nadu Food and Allied Products Delivery Workers Union, affiliated to the CITU, who led the protest at Valasarawalkam on Monday, said that delivery partners were treated badly by fleet managers. “If we rub them the wrong way, we don’t get enough deliveries. The company has cut all the incentives that we used to get monthly, weekly and during the weekends,” he said. The Union has made a ...

As per media reports, the revisions are as follows: • The delivery executives have to complete 30 order deliveries daily. This summarizes the delivery executives’ entire day. As this can only be possible if they put in at least 17 hours of work. • According to the earlier pay structure, the employees have to work for 12 hours daily and also received daily and weekly incentives. • It is reported that earlier, part-time delivery personnel received about Rs 250 plus Rs 125 as an incentive daily, while the full-time agents earned Rs 475 plus Rs 250 as an incentive, which they were able to easily achieve in half the number of deliveries that the new system demands. • With the new regulations in place, delivery executives are struggling to meet the cost of fuel and fulfill their domestic needs. The Benefits of being a Swiggy Pick-up and Delivery Partner Insurance for you and your family The company said, “For Incredible Incentives The company said, “In addition to earning for each delivery you complete, you earn various attractive incentives on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis as well as special incentives.” “These are designed to help you meet your financial aspirations, as you can earn more than in any other bike fleet.” It added. Want a new bike at attractive rates? Swiggy is the place to be! Swiggy said, “With special partnerships with leading 2-wheeler companies, Swiggy’s exclusive leasing and rental programs for our PDPs will help you save on unwanted costs while you u...

By Express News Service KOCHI: Online food delivery service of Swiggy almost came to a halt on the first day of the indefinite strike called by delivery workers in protest against the company’s decision not to raise their pay. The workers said nearly 5,000 Swiggy delivery personnel stayed away from service on Tuesday. The workers went on strike after the discussion called by the district labour officer failed to reach a consensus. The main demand of the workers is to hike the minimum wage from Rs 20 to Rs 35 for every delivery made in a four-square-kilometre radius in Kochi city. Though a few delivery workers joined duty by afternoon, they too decided to support the strike later in the day. There were reports that protesters threatened the workers who decided to deliver the food packages. However, people were only partially affected by the strike as many used other online food delivery apps. “I tried to place an order on Swiggy, but only a few hotels were available. When I tried to place an order, I received a message saying the service was unavailable,” said a resident who works in a private firm in Kaloor. Meanwhile, the district labour officer said a meeting with Swiggy officials and union leaders will be convened soon to discuss the issue. KOCHI: Online food delivery service of Swiggy almost came to a halt on the first day of the indefinite strike called by delivery workers in protest against the company’s decision not to raise their pay. The workers said nearly 5,000 ...

Directing them to issue notices to the agitating DPs, their union, Food Order Delivery Workers District Council, and its office-bearers, the court posted the case for Tuesday. Following the failure of the tripartite talks held in the presence of the state labour officials last month which failed to find a solution with regards to increased wages, Swiggy delivery boys in nine out of the 11 delivery zones at the commercial capital of the state- Kochi is on an indefinite strike. The present plea was moved by Bundl Technologies Pvt Ltd (Swiggy) to provide police protection at its office premises, restaurants, and its DPs in the event of any illegal use of force by the other DPs who are currently on strike. Swiggy in its plea pointed out that a few persons who are working as DPs had approached them making illegal demands which were not acceded to. Subsequently, these persons were intimidating other DPs to stop work, through force and threats of violence, due to which several complaints were made before police stations across the district of Ernakulam. The plea said that since then, many DPs in Ernakulam informed the police officers of a possible law and order situation as a consequence of the illegal force and threats of violence perpetrated on the DPs willingly engaged in the delivery services petitioner. Swiggy also pointed out that the condition is going from bad to worse and could result in an imminent law and other problems unless they are granted protection. Therefore, Sw...

By Express News Service KOCHI: As many as 5,000 online food delivery workers at Swiggy started an indefinite strike on Monday after their demand to increase remuneration was turned down by the management. Though a tripartite discussion was held under the supervision of the district labour officer in the presence of Swiggy officials and union representatives, it failed to reach an amicable solution. The main demand of the workers is to hike the minimum wage from Rs 20 to Rs 35 for every delivery made in a 4-sq-km radius in Kochi. “The management was not ready to increase a single paisa. Though the workers’ union representatives agreed to a minimum wage of Rs 30, the management stuck to their stand. Had the management been cooperative, the strike would have been amicably settled,” said District Labour Officer P K Navas. This is the second discussion the labour department is holding within a week. “The management is of the opinion that if they increase wages, they will be forced to increase it in other centres also. They claimed that the move will put them in financial trouble,” the officer said. The labour department is planning to hold further discussions with the top officials of Swiggy. Meanwhile, the indefinite strike of workers received support from several quarters, including writer N S Madhavan. “The fact is that no labour laws exist for gig workers. Their working conditions are terrible, wages low and employers capricious. This strike and many more are required to es...

The valuations of many major Indian startups have been slashed by VCs and investors in the past few weeks. Swiggy’s valuation was cut by Invesco, BYJU’S valuation was slashed by BlackRock, and Meesho’s valuation was reduced by Fidelity Investments.  This cutback is also going to impact the value of the ESOPs employees at these startups are entitled to. ESOPs, or Employee Stock Ownership Plan, have lately become an important part of employee remuneration in startups. Employees are offered stock options in the company which they can buy at a lower than market price after completion of vesting period. Gaurav VK Singhvi, angel investor and founder of We Founder Circle, explained how ESOPs are valued. Singhvi explained, “When a startup experiences a decrease in valuation, it directly affects the value of ESOPs granted to employees. ESOPs are usually granted with a specific strike price, which represents the price at which employees can purchase company shares in the future. This strike price is typically determined based on the company's valuation at the time of grant. In the event of a decrease in the startup's valuation, the strike price of the ESOPs remains the same, but the market value of the shares decreases.” This means, when employees exercise their ESOPs and purchase shares at the strike price, their expected potential profit or financial gain may be significantly reduced. Experts and industry insiders point out that this drop in financial gains via ESOPs m...