Foodpanda abolished fixed hourly salary
At the end of September, Foodpanda riders held protests against their employer for coming out with a new payment scheme.
It was reported that the new scheme will remove the fixed RM4 hourly allowance. Instead, riders could earn an additional of RM1.50 to RM2 from each delivered order.
Plus, an additional RM1 will be paid to riders who made deliveries during the odd hours, 11pm to 9am.
Riders outside of Klang Valley argued that the frequency of orders in their locations is not as high as in the city.
Sometimes, they might even need to wait for three hours just to receive an order. Thus, the removal of fixed hourly wage will reduce their overall income.
Following the protests, Youth and Sport Minister Syed Saddiq invited Foodpanda riders to his house in Petaling Jaya for a dialogue session to discuss on issues that the riders have with their employer.
Over 100 Foodpanda riders attended the dialogue session on October 1.
Some concerns raised by the riders were the lack of legal capacity to protect e-hailing riders, unfair banning system on the riders, Foodpanda biasness towards its clients and customers when handling complaints and etc.
On the following day, Syed Saddiq raised the issues in the cabinet meeting. Then, the cabinet urged Foodpanda to revert to its original payment scheme.
On October 7, Foodpanda Malaysia managing director Sayantan Das stood firm on the new payment scheme despite the backlash, believing that the scheme will increase the riders’ salaries and reduce their working hours at the same time.
After the decision was finalized by Foodpanda Malaysia, the issue quickly soothed down in the mainstream media.
However, an online boycott was launched against the online food delivery company, leading to the trending of hashtags, ‘#uninstallfoodpanda’, ‘#boycottfoodpanda’, ‘#deletefoodpanda’ and ‘#mogokfoodpanda’.
The issue also caught the attention of political artist Fahmi Reza. He joined the boycott movement through his tweet, which gained over 400 likes and almost 600 retweets.
Netizens were not only dissatisfied with the alleged unfair treatment by Foodpanda to its riders, but also the attitude of its managing director Sayantan Das.
During a press conference, Sayantan said Foodpanda riders can find other jobs if they are not fine with the new payment scheme.
Netizens found his statement cocky and disrespectful towards the riders who have worked hard to bring up the reputation of Foodpanda in Malaysia.