A group of Foodpanda deliverers and their lawyer yesterday rallied in front of Taipei City Hall, calling on the local government to help them negotiate with the company about what they called an unfair payment mechanism.
The Taipei Department of Labor said that it had accepted their petition and would help by mediating a labor management dispute resolution meeting.
Carrying pink Foodpanda insulated delivery bags and wearing uniforms with the slogan “You are enjoying your New Year, while we are bitterly paying money in advance to our customers,” the workers protested alongside their lawyer, surnamed Chen (陳).
Photo: Tsai Szu-pei, Taipei Times
Chen said deliverers are required to collect cash from customers upon delivery, but the company has set a maximum limit of NT$5,000.
If they collect more than NT$5,000 in cash from customers, they have to transfer the money to the company’s bank account before they can deliver any further orders, he said.
However, the payments are settled at particular times, and even then it usually takes about an hour, Chen said.
While weekends and holidays are prime time for food deliveries, workers are prevented from taking on new jobs because they have already collected more than NT$5,000 in cash, he said, adding that the company’s rules deprive them of the right to earn money.
Often deliverers prepay the company with their own money on Friday to ensure that they can continue to deliver customers’ orders throughout the weekend, but many of them have suffered from system errors, which have caused their prepayment records to disappear, a worker said.
Another deliverer said that he has lost up to NT$8,000 by making prepayments and although he has reported the problem to the company, he has not received a response in the past month and a half.
Taipei Labor Standards Division Director Chen Kun-hong (陳昆鴻) met with the protesters and received their petition on behalf on the city government.
He said it is difficult to judge whether there has been a breach of the law based only on the deliverers’ and their lawyer’s remarks, but he suggested that they apply for labor-management dispute mediation to negotiate a solution that both sides could accept.
The department later issued a statement confirming that it would mediate discussions on the dispute, as well as urge the company to set up a grievance procedure mechanism to address complaints made by its employees.
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