- Swiggy delivery partners in Bengaluru are gearing up for a second round of strikes in case the company cannot meet their demand.
- The delivery partners called off their first round of strikes on Sunday afternoon after Swiggy agreed to address the grievances within a week.
- The delivery partner’s union claims there may be a series of strikes in other cities as well, but that needs a targeted action plan.
Swiggy’s rift with his delivery guys could widen over the next week and could affect his food and grocery orders.
As many as 30,000 delivery partners, as Swiggy calls them, have threatened a strike in Bengaluru if their demands are not met by the end of this week, the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT) said.
The development comes just a day after 3,000 of those in Bengaluru called off their three-day strike after management asked for a week to address their grievances.
“We’ve been in direct contact with a handful of high profile delivery guys in a few Bangalore bags to allay their concerns. These zones remained fully operational during this period. We are constantly reviewing our pay and reward structure for delivery managers to ensure their earnings are in line with industry standards,” said Swiggy.
Delivery workers expect better pay, attainable goals
The delivery partners protested when Swiggy expanded their delivery zones and lowered the payout for these long-haul trips. According to the strikers, they earn only ₹35 for five kilometers, after which they earn ₹6/kilometer.
In addition, the company also stopped their annual bonus of 10,000 for delivery partners and now only receives a weekly incentive of 1,000.
The staff also claims that their daily goals have also been increased, which now takes 14 hours. They expect the company to reduce it so that it can be reached in 8-9 hours.
| Requirements from delivery partners, from IFAT |
| Minimum base wage to be increased from existing ₹35 |
| The distance wage must be increased from the existing ₹6/Km to ₹10/Km |
| Monthly Rating Incentive must be re-entered. |
| Stop assignment of orders to third parties such as Shadowfax and Rapido. |
Partners have also raised security concerns during late night deliveries, with some of them being victims of violence and theft. The 10-minute delivery target that Swiggy has set for its grocery delivery service Instamart has also made them more prone to accidents.
“It [The strike with 3,000 partners] was just a symbolic gesture,” Shaik Salauddin, National General Secretary of IFAT and board member of The International Alliance of App-based Transport Workers (IAATW) affiliates in India.
He noted that IFAT alone has about 7,000 to 8,000 delivery partners, with the rest coming from other small unions and individual partners who are also affected by Swiggy’s recent policy changes.
https://londonbusinessblog.com/ India was unable to independently verify these figures.
Strike of 3,000 partners also affected Swiggy’s Instamart
Notably, the company has about 270,000 delivery partners associated with it. They claim that even the 3,000 workers’ strike deeply affected Swiggy’s fast trading company InstaMart during the last three-day strike. A bigger strike, with a well-developed plan of action, could have a much bigger impact, the union added.
The association noted that Bengaluru is one of Swiggy’s largest markets due to its concentration of technology companies and startups. IFAT claims that there may be a series of strikes in other cities as well, but in that case there must be a targeted plan of action as the demand from delivery partners in each city is very different. According to IFAT and delivery partners spoke to https://londonbusinessblog.com/, Swiggy has solved the delivery partner problem before and may be able to fix it this time too.
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