Swiggy, the popular food delivery app, is facing issues in Chennai since delivery agents have been on a strike since Tuesday, September 20. While many customers took to social media to complain about the unavailability of delivery in certain areas, some who managed to find restaurants complained that the orders took over 90 minutes to be delivered to certain areas.
Meanwhile, an apology message appeared on the Instamart page of the Swiggy application on Tuesday stating that the store was closed.
Swiggy delivery agents have gone on a strike over the new pay structure introduced by the company and have demanded its withdrawal. The delivery agents on strike said that the fuel allowances have been reduced and that there was an attempt to bring in a fixed payment structure, cutting the incentives on deliveries.
Also, the 24 hours are divided into five shifts and the delivery agents are asked to work for at least two shifts during the week and three shifts during the weekend.
ANGUISH FOR DELIVERY AGENTS
Sharath Kumar, a Swiggy delivery agent, said, “There is a new salary slab. There is a slot basis. Earlier it was simple. There were three incentive schemes and if we achieve that we will be given an incentive. Now there are eight schemes based on the slab. First, it was on an amount basis, but now it is on an order basis. There will be a difference in the payout of up to Rs 2,000 to 3,000. If it is based on order, we will have to keep riding more and our safety will also be a concern. The target is increasing. The number of hours we have to spend on the field and the amount of fuel we have to use will increase but the benefits decrease.”
“Earlier, for fuel, they used to pay 11 per cent of the overall incentive. But now we have a fixed pay and no allowance separately for fuel. We will get Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 less. Weekly and daily incentives will go down. People from 12 zones are participating in the protest,” he added.
Devender, another Swiggy delivery agent stated, “The app does not assign us to pick up from the same restaurants or to nearby locations. The combined delivery is picked up from different locations and different delivery points. Customers are upset and we get yelled at.”
“Similarly, there are times when customer ratings lead to our app getting temporarily locked. But many times we might not be at fault. It could be because of the error of the restaurant or the prep time, but we are the ones who are affected. A Swiggy agent’s app was temporarily closed because an order from Burger king was not delivered because the customer didn’t answer the call. The customer care also couldn’t get through to the customer, but despite that, the agent was slapped with a penalty,” he added.
SWIGGY REACTION
Meanwhile, responding to the protest, Swiggy issued a statement that said, “The payout structure has been created to provide more flexibility to the delivery executives while ensuring that they are able to earn well with us irrespective of the platform orders. There are no changes to how much Swiggy’s delivery executives earn or how long they work.
“We are in continuous discussions with our delivery executives to help them understand their payouts better and are confident of them resuming deliveries at the earliest,” said the statement.
Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/cities/chennai/story/swiggy-delivery-agents-protest-revised-pay-structure-chennai-2003331-2022-09-22
