Foodpanda deliveries in some areas of Hong Kong grind to a halt after 1,200 couriers go on strike, dispute leader says
- A strike leader says the company has cut pay under the guise of a new payments system
- Foodpanda accuses strikers of disrupting the work of couriers still on the job and destroying food orders
A group of disgruntled couriers at Hong Kong delivery platform Foodpanda have launched their second strike in two weeks after they accused the company of rigging the payments system to impose cuts of up to 30 per cent in their income.
The couriers on Thursday said they organised the two-day strike because their pay cut concerns had not been dealt with by the company, despite similar industrial action over the same grievance last month.
But Foodpanda hit back that the strikers had disrupted the work of couriers who had not supported the strike, destroyed food orders and had refused to discuss their grievances with managers.
A leader of the striking couriers, who asked to be identified only as Boss, said the industrial action involved about 1,200 of the firm’s 10,000 delivery people and that Foodpanda services in 14 service areas across the city had ground to a halt or been seriously affected.
“The company has a very complicated system to calculate the delivery fees we can get for finishing an order,” Boss said. “There is no transparency at all. What we know is that we are making less and less after the new system is used.
“We appreciate that business has been hit after the easing of the Covid restrictions and more people may opt to dine out now. We also understand that all businesses need to make profits or else they will have to shutter.
