Couriers in China protest late wages during an e-commerce boom resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic
- The NGO China Labour Bulletin has recorded 25 worker protests over late wages at delivery companies in China this year
- Competition has been driving down delivery fees even as the pandemic has made the work more demanding
When much of China’s economy ground to a halt earlier this year, many people continued to get daily essentials and other products delivered to their doors when they could no longer visit shopping centres. The couriers, known colloquially as “delivery brothers”, helped keep e-commerce humming during the Covid-19 pandemic while suffering long hours and low pay. And now a report from China Labour Bulletin (CLB) says many couriers are protesting to get the wages they are owed.
The Hong Kong-based NGO recorded 25 protests by couriers this year. That compares with 27 worker disputes recorded for the entirety of 2019. This year’s protests are all connected to wage arrears, reflecting the difficulties that many delivery companies are facing in the wake of the pandemic, according to CLB researcher Aidan Chau.
“The express delivery industry after the epidemic has been in constant ups and downs,” Chau said.
Parcel delivery companies have been a pillar of China’s online shopping explosion, with the industry seeing a rise since January, when the Covid-19 outbreak was spreading rapidly through the country. More than 56 billion parcels were delivered this year between January and September, up 28 per cent from the same period last year, the State Post Bureau of China announced this week. An additional 7 billion packages had been delivered as of last Sunday, with a lot more likely to come.
As the date gets closer, though, reports of unpaid wages and rumours of delivery worker strikes have been trending on social media. One related hashtag has been picking up steam on the microblogging platform Weibo.