Swiggy partners go on strike over wages in Kochi as talks with company fail

Protests gather steam as earnings dwindle and fuel prices surge; some say the earnings have declined by as much as 50%

Lijin Mohanan from Kochi used to work as a production manager in Malayalam movies till the pandemic broke out. After that, in order to sustain in life, he switched profession and became a delivery partner with online food major Swiggy. After almost two years, the delivery job too seems to be a struggle for the 35-year-old, with earnings coming down and fuel prices rising. Mohanan is one among the thousands of Swiggy workers who are on indefinite strike in Kerala, seeking a wage hike.

The strike that started on Monday continued on Wednesday, as talks between the company and the workers in the presence of the district labour officer failed to get any results. According to sources, a meeting is scheduled with the authorities on Thursday.

“Our demand is to hike the minimum wage from Rs 20 to Rs 35 for every 4-kilometer delivery. At current petrol rates, we are unable to earn well enough to run a family,” said Mohanan, a member of Food Online Delivery Workers’ Union.

Though a similar strike took place in Thiruvananthapuram recently, authorities said the issue had been resolved. “They had agreed to increase the money in Thiruvananthapuram. It is more than one and a half months since the strike happened, but they still haven’t hiked the payments in Thiruvananthapuram," he added.

An email sent to Swiggy remained unanswered. The story will be updated with comments from the company later.

Echoing Mohanan, another worker John Milton said that the earnings of delivery boys in the city declined by almost 50 per cent in some cases, since he joined in 2019. “We managed to earn only around Rs 300-400 per day, even after 15 to 16 trips. Our Rs 20 in Kochi is much lower compared to even around Rs 40 per four km in some other cities. Hope the company will understand our situation, as fuel prices increased like anything in the last two years, affecting our revenue,” Milton said, adding that this has affected the life of him and his dependent family.      

“We are getting minimal wages even after working for 14 to 15 hours a day. We are unable to run our families due to higher fuel charges. In addition, due to Swiggy giving more orders to companies like Shadowfax (on demand logistics firm), earlier payments have come down,” said a statement by the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).

Meanwhile there were reports that several of the delivery partners who were continuing to deliver were beaten up by those on strike. "In some cases the police had to be called as many of us were beaten up. Because of this many of the delivery partners could not log into the system too," said a person aware of the situation.

In August this year, Zomato partners in Thiruvananthapuram too had gone on an indefinite strike. The strike was withdrawn later as Zomato agreed to several of their conditions.