Foodpanda deliveries in some areas of Hong Kong grind to a halt after 1,200 couriers go on strike, dispute leader says

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.

“We are not asking Foodpanda to make less money and pay us more. We are asking the company not to exploit us. Each of us does have a family to support.”

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

The striking couriers said zones affected included Central, Western, Sha Tin, Tsim Sha Tsui, Sham Shui Po and Yuen Long.

A new system introduced by Foodpanda earlier this year, which linked service fees paid to couriers to delivery distance and the number of orders, is at the centre of the dispute.

The delivery distance was calculated based on Google Maps.

But Boss said the system was designed to disguise a pay cut as the services fees calculated under the new system were smaller, and that some couriers saw their wages reduced by almost a third.

He said he mainly delivered in the service zone of Kwun Tong, Ngau Tak Kok, and Lam Tin.

“I could earn about HK$80 (US$10) or HK$90 of service fee for delivering two orders in the past. But now the amount has dropped to about HK$70 with the new system,” he said.

“After last month’s strike, the company’s response was to further revise the formula for calculating our service fee, which resulted in our basic fees being further reduced and a cut in our allowances.

“The company shows no respect for us. Thus, we go on strike again. We need to let the company feel the pain or else the management will not bother to take us seriously,” he said.

He warned that the industrial action could be stepped up if the company continued to ignore the couriers’ demands.

But Foodpanda blamed the strikers for a refusal to talk to management to try and resolve the dispute.

The firm said more than 20 couriers not involved in the industrial action had lodged complaints that their work had been disrupted by strikers.

“We have unfortunately received reports that some couriers have deliberately destroyed customers’ orders and prevented other couriers from completing orders and accepting shifts,” it said.

“While we respect everyone’s right to express themselves in their own way, we do not support and will not tolerate any action that intentionally disrupts other couriers from attending their shifts or delivering their orders under any circumstances.”

Foodpanda said it would take “corresponding action” if required.

Foodpanda Hong Kong, couriers reach deal on pay after 2 rounds of talks

The firm added it had “not reduced our investment into the overall service fee” and that “none of our initiatives were launched with the intention to reduce overall service fees”.

It also maintained that, on average under the new system, delivery staff got higher service fees for all zones and about two-thirds of order payments had increased.

Foodpanda said that it had tried to contact the strikers and set up weekly Friday town hall sessions at Tsim Sha Tsui for them to air their concerns, but the couriers “did not apply to any of the slots from our official meetings that have been purposely set up for constructive and regular discussions”.

Couriers for the firm last November went on strike for two days in a similar dispute over delivery fee cuts.

The company later agreed to make changes to its mobile app and fee calculation system, as well as examine other complaints from delivery staff.

The food delivery market in Hong Kong is dominated by Foodpanda and Deliveroo.

Foodpanda is said to have about 12,000 couriers and works with 14,000 restaurants, and Deliveroo has about 11,000 delivery workers and a roster of 10,000 restaurants on its platform.