The All India IT and ITeS Employees’ Union stands in solidarity with the Swiggy delivery partners in Chennai protesting the new rate cards enforced on them from the 14th of August 2020.
Swiggy workers in Chennai have gone on strike due to the reduction of rates since Friday (14th of August 2020), when they were transferred the amounts based on their new rate cards, dropping from Rs. 35 per trip to Rs. 15 per trip. They were given no notice of the new changes. Some estimate that the new rates barely cover the costs of fuel for the tasks. The delivery partners estimate that in addition to the rate cards, 20 incentives have been cancelled or reduced as well.
There has been a reduction in wait time incentives, long distance incentives, rain allowance and other such incentives. Workers are also claiming that there is algorithmic manipulation for those whose orders are above Rs. 400, denying workers the opportunity to work on more trips to make ends meet.
AIITEU stands in solidarity with all the Swiggy delivery executives on strike and demands that older rate cards and incentives be reinstated.
We find the sudden reduction of incentives and rate cards in the already precarious work environment of the gig economy in the middle of a pandemic to be unconscionable by the food delivery platform.
We demand that in the future, workers of the gig economy need to be given adequate notice for such changes in advance.
We believe that workers should have the justiciable right to negotiate with the organisations such as Swiggy and Zomato with regards to their own rate cards and incentives.
All India IT and ITeS Employees’ Union