Foodpanda Hong Kong, couriers to resume talks over minimum pay on Thursday after 7-hour dialogue ends in deadlock
- Foodpanda Hong Kong says it has ‘proactively proposed a few solutions’ in response to fleet’s demands, but refuses to set minimum pay per order
- Strike organisers say they hope to compromise and ask for better offer from company in Thursday’s talks
Talks between Foodpanda, one of the leading food delivery platforms in Hong Kong, and its couriers on setting a standard base pay will resume on Thursday after a seven-hour discussion ended in deadlock.
A group of eight food courier representatives and top bosses of Foodpanda Hong Kong sat down to negotiate for the first time on Tuesday after hundreds of disgruntled delivery workers went on strike over the weekend to protest against pay cuts.
The talks centred on setting a minimum fee of HK$50 (US$6.40) for each order delivered by a rider and HK$30 for those delivered on foot, but instead the company offered a bonus incentive, according to courier representatives who sat in on the meeting.
In a statement after the meeting, which began at 5pm on Tuesday, Foodpanda Hong Kong said it had “proactively proposed a few solutions” in response to the demands of its fleet, which currently had about 10,000 couriers.
“We walked through some of our current operational practices and continued to encourage couriers to take more orders during peak hours, in order to get higher earnings,” it said.