Chennai: The proverbial ‘many a slip between the cup and the lip’ was the case of Swiggy users in the city today, as the food delivery app’s services were either not available or delayed due to a strike by its staff.
People who were dependent on the tech platform to get their daily meal delivered at their doorstep had a hard time as the service was disrupted in several places after the delivery personnel went on strike over various demands.
Employees of Swiggy gathered in several pockets of the city and listed out their demands to the management. They said they were planning to make this an indefinite strike if their demands are not met.
The employees urged the company to increase the pay per-order and sought the restoration of the incentive amounts that were allegedly reduced recently.
Listing out some of their demands, Suhan, a delivery person, said, “We want regularisation of per mile compensation, more avenues to communicate with the organisation on delivery-related problems, and the management should also ensure that delivery personnel do not face harassment by the police late at night while on duty.”
Though services were affected in the city, there was routine delivery in the suburbs.
Sam, a delivery person from Tambaram, said, “We are not part of the protest today, but we might soon join if the management does not pay heed to our demands.”
A few restaurants from the city confirmed that they had not received delivery requests from the morning.
The Swiggy website and mobile application displayed a message that read: ‘We’re sorry. Delivery is not possible at the moment due to unforeseen circumstances’, in certain parts of the city, while displaying a ‘location unserviceable’ banner on the page.
In a statement, Swiggy said, “We remain committed to serving the city of Chennai, while ensuring that our delivery partners have access to additional earning opportunities, incentives and benefits. We regret the inconvenience to our users in Chennai and are working hard to resume services in these areas at the earliest.”
The statement also added, “It is our constant endeavour to provide our delivery partners with industry-best payouts. The revised payout scheme is in alignment with the efforts of our partners on-ground, and takes various parameters including peak hours and distance into consideration.”