We received news of riders who went on strike in Myanmar following cuts in pay (fees) on March 16th.

UPDATES

March 23rd

The foodpanda company announced that it had reached an agreement with striking riders as the company settled to increase the delivery rate. At the same time half of the riders are still on strike. They keep fighting for the original rate. It seems that half of the riders resumed back their work with the basic rate of 580 MMK whereas their demand was to get 650 MMK which was paid to them before. (source: riders on the ground + myanmarlabournotes.com)

March 20th

Foodpanda Myanmar stated that the cuts were a technical error. Riders met with the company management, but negotiations were unsuccessful. Therefore the strike continues. (source: myanmarlabournews.com)

GrabFood riders said that they will continue the strike as well – until they get paid the previous rates! (source: myanmarlabournews.com)

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The following information is based on reports by Myanmar Labour News (1, 2, 3, 4).

Foodpanda Myanmar

In the morning of March 16th foodpanda Myanmar began to cut rider fees without prior notification, though the contract between the riders and the company states that riders should be informed in advance. In reaction foodpanda riders logged out of their accounts and started a wildcat strike in the capital Yangon and rallied in front of the company headquarter in the city.

According to an involved rider they are now only paid 500-600 MMK (0,25 – 0,30€) for a distance for which they used to get 1000 MMK (0,50€).

Confronted with the protest the foodpanda office pointed the finger at other departments in the company saying it is not responsible.

There are many other problems. Each rider has to pay 85,000 MMK for a rider account. The company cuts off the orders or suspends the accounts, if riders make complaints. Foodpanda also recruits new riders without being able to provide already existing riders with orders. The primary aim of the company is to collect more money with the registration fees from new riders.
The company is accused of customer manipulation. Promoting itself with “free delivery” services, but then charging fees because of a “system error”.

Only a day before also riders in Mandalay went on strike in reaction to the cuts.

Foodpanda is the lead brand of Delivery Hero in Asia.

The Berlin-based company forecast full-year revenue in a range of 9.5 billion to 10.5 billion euros ($10.85 billion to $12 billion), and a negative margin on core profit of 1% to 1.2% for 2022.

source: nasdaq.com

GrabFood Myanmar

GrabFood riders in Yangon are on strike due to the sudden changes in payments. Now riders get 10 orders at most. As a result they don’t even bring home 10,000 MMK (5,07€) after a full day of work. Late night of March 14th the office suddenly informed the riders that rates will be changed the following day on.

A GrabFood rider stated that he gave up after two days of strike. According to him some riders are getting back to work since many of them struggle to survive. Nonetheless others manage to uphold the strike.

The new payment rates set by GrabFood Myanmar are the following:

Distance	Rate
0-1 km	600 MMK (0,30€)
1-2 km	900 MMK (0,45€)
3-4 km	1200-1700 MMK (0,61 – 0,86€)
20 km	7600 MMK (3,86€)

About 300 riders in more than four zones are currently on strike. Their main demand is to get the rate they were paid before.

Grab is Southeast Asia’s leading superapp based on GMV in 2020 in each of food deliveries, mobility and the e-wallets segment of financial services, according to Euromonitor. Grab operates across the deliveries, mobility and digital financial services sectors in over 400 cities in eight countries in the Southeast Asia region – Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. […]
GMV for deliveries grew 63% YoY to hit an all-time high of $2.3 billion.

source: grab.com

Currently riders are asked how they can be supported. Once we have an answer, you will find any call for solidarity on globalmayday.net.

#RidersUnited