Hundreds of disgruntled Foodpanda couriers went on a two-day strike over a new map system in mid-October.

They said the system used to calculate their pay was rigged to impose wage cuts, with some earning up to 30 per cent less than before. They refused to deliver grocery orders from Pandamart the following week.

Workers staged another strike on Thursday and Friday.

A 40-year-old striker, who gave his name as Fat, said there were 300 people off the job in Central on Friday, which paralysed the food and grocery delivery service in the area, and around 1,200 couriers joined the strike across the city.

“The company really needs to sit down and talk with us. Its attitude leaves us with no choice but to stage strikes again on coming weekends to defend our rights. It still hasn’t addressed the issue of wage cuts and our other demands”, Fat said.

Foodpanda launched a revised mapping system based on Google Maps to calculate couriers’ service fees in September after similar industrial action last year over the former method.

The old system, Manhattan Distance, measured grid distance by drawing the most direct path between two points, assuming riders made only horizontal and straight ahead movements.

A rider working for Foodpanda and its rival Deliveroo, who gave his name as Sheikh, said the two delivery platforms used different systems to calculate riders’ wages, but the latter had a more attractive offer that kept its delivery people happy.

“Deliveroo offers a weekly acceptance rate bonus. If I accept 80 per cent of the orders given, I will have a 30 per cent bonus of what I made that week, including the base, distance and busy hour surge”, the 28-year-old delivery man said.

Foodpanda deliveries in some Hong Kong areas disrupted by strike

Andrew Hui Chee-yin, general manager of Deliveroo told the Post that the bonus was designed to give couriers an incentive to work more, adding that customers, restaurants, grocery partners and the couriers were equally important.

Foodpanda, meanwhile, argued it also offered a weekly incentive bonus as high as HK$20 (US$2.5) per order for its drivers if they had an 85 per cent acceptance rate during peak hours and completed the orders they agreed to take on.

Sheikh said both of the bonus schemes were achievable, but riders might have different preferences.

“Foodpanda provides riders more shift location and duration options if we have a better acceptance rate on the previous week, while Deliveroo allows us to sign in at any time and anywhere to work, although it doesn’t guarantee I have enough orders if too many riders are in the same location,” he added.

Dias said Foodpanda had spent more on pay since the new system was introduced, as two-thirds of their orders, especially those over longer distances cost the firm more, although the remaining third, involving mostly short-haul trips, cost less.

He admitted there were bugs in the system that underestimated the distance for some orders, but he said compensation was offered to affected couriers on a weekly basis.

“We are confident that our new set-up, although not perfect, has brought an overall increase to earning potential. As we enter a phase of stability, we have no plans to make major changes to our current set-up,” Dias said.

He said the strikes had affected not just customers but also couriers because they had lost earnings.

“We do respect the freedom of the riders who want to manifest themselves through striking. We protect their freedom and have never suspended or terminated anyone, provided that they’re not interrupting or disturbing orders and other riders”, Dias said.

Hong Kong Foodpanda couriers go on strike to ‘demand better and fairer pay’

Labour sector lawmaker Dennis Leung Tsz-wing appealed to the government to give more protection to the self-employed couriers by adding them to the Employment Ordinance, which includes provisions for a minimum wage and insurance.

“Picking up orders too slow or late, or having bad ratings from customers could affect whether they could have a new order. The platforms pretty much have all the control over the jobs they could get”, Leung said.

But Dias insisted the gig economy had been a lifeline to people who had lost their jobs and provided opportunities for people who valued flexible working hours and an additional source of income on top of their full time employment.

Hui agreed that the couriers enjoyed the flexibility of the job the most.

“Apart from insurance coverage to our riders, Deliveroo has always been looking for additional benefits for our fleet,” he said.

A spokesman for the Labour Department said delivery platforms were still a new type of business.

“If there exists an employment relationship between a food delivery platform and a worker, which is determined by the facts and circumstances of the specific job, the food delivery platform must fulfil the employer’s obligations,” he said.

“When the genuine status of the food delivery worker is in dispute, the court is the only authority to determine the facts.”