Even as Dunzo said it is business as usual in the majority of its stores, the Reliance-backed quick delivery service was not available in parts of Bengaluru on Friday following a strike by delivery partners.
For the past two days, hundreds of delivery workers in Bengaluru and other parts of the city have protested against changes in the company’s payment and time structure.
“Earlier, there was no time limit on our work hours. We could make our target earnings in the time span that worked for us and even take breaks or attend to personal matters in between. However, Dunzo has now said we have to earn our target in 10 hours and it is impossible to earn the same amount that we made earlier,” one of the protesting delivery workers told BusinessLine on condition of anonymity.
Supporting the sentiment, a second delivery worker said, “We don’t want duty timing. They are telling us to work for 10 hours and go home. We don’t want salary work.”
Further, a third delivery executive noted that the company did not pay them a fair commission during the rains in the city. ”Even though the company is charging extra rain and distance charges, the commission paid to us is much less. Petrol rates have also skyrocketed and so Dunzo should increase the per kilometre earning of the partners,” he added.
Dunzo did not respond to queries from BusinessLine till the time of going to press.
Delivery partner strikes have impacted Dunzo’s operation for the past few days across Indiranagar, Frazer Town, and Mahadevapura, among others. The strikes come on the heels of the heavy rains, which has impacted the operations of various delivery companies.
Swiggy Instamart head, Karthik Gurumurthy, said in a Twitter post earlier this week that certain areas like Sarjapur, Marathahalli, and Bellandur have been badly impacted by the rains and the company is working with its sellers to serve as many orders as possible. “Count on us...Your orders may be delayed, but we will deliver,” he added.