Amazon personnel to go on strike over low delivery fees
1 min read 24 Mar 2021, 09:50 PM ISTThe strike call could affect Amazon India’s operations in the cities as 10,000-25,000 personnels are likely to join the protests
PremiumAmazon India’s delivery partners will call for a 24-hour strike across Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune and Delhi-NCR, to protest against the e-commerce company’s decision to lower delivery fees. Besides, they are demanding insurance cover for all contract workers.
On 15 March, the delivery personnel in Pune had organized a protest after Amazon India lowered delivery fees.
The Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT), a trade union body representing gig workers, said it has held discussions with delivery partners over the last three days to understand their grievances. “We have learnt that on 15 March, Amazon India had issued a new policy saying that delivery personnel will now earn ₹10 on delivering small packages and ₹15 for deliveries made through tempos. Based on our deliberations with these personnel, we learnt that the staff earlier would make ₹35 on deliveries. Before the lockdown last year, the staff was able to make around ₹20,000 a month but that has now gone down to ₹10,000," said Shaik Salauddin, national general secretary, IFAT.
The strike call could affect Amazon India’s operations in the cities as 10,000-25,000 personnels are likely to join the protests.
Recently, Amazon India had introduced an incentive for delivery partners who would service a customer’s know-your-customer (KYC) process for the Amazon Pay wallet.
An Amazon India spokesperson said the IFAT has not reached out to the company and claimed that there hasn’t been any disruption in deliveries. The firm will look into the demands of the delivery fleet and is holding talks with partners on the ground. “There are no disruptions in any of our delivery operations, and our partners continue to work with us to deliver on time to Amazon customers across the country. We place enormous value in having regular conversations with our partners," he said.
“We have to go to every person’s door to deliver the parcel or else the customers complain to the company. If we do not deliver the parcel on time, we have to work overtime and deliver the parcel. New delivery persons get ₹10,000 per month with many conditions imposed by the company," IFAT said quoting a delivery personnel in a press release on Wednesday.
IFAT said Amazon must pay ₹70-80 for every parcel delivered through vans, while fees for small parcels must be ₹20, considering the increase in retail fuel prices.
