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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 18) – The Secretary of Labor, Silvestre Bello III, promised to maintain a dialogue with the Foodpanda distributors, who denounced the company’s alleged unfair labor practices, according to Senator Joel Villanueva.
Villanueva made the disclosure during Senate budget deliberations on Wednesday after Senator Richard Gordon raised the issue about passenger complaints. The workers took a unit trip earlier in the day to the Labor and Employment Department office to seek a dialogue with Bello about the delivery platform’s policies.
“The secretary (Bello) is committing to meet them soon,” Villanueva said. The union chief himself was present during the deliberations.
According to a joint statement by the Foodpanda Riders Association and Kapatiran sa Dalawang Gulong (or Kagulong), hundreds of passengers from the food delivery platform participated in the protest.
The groups said recent changes to Foodpanda’s bonus pay structure have “negatively affected” worker pay and working conditions.
“The payment is tied to the reserves that are affected by the so-called ‘ratings’,” said Don Pangan of Kagulong. “But the rating system is opaque. Ratings have dropped due to system changes that penalize passengers. Payment has also been reduced per delivery due to a new system.”
The groups are also demanding that a company policy called “no dispatch” be removed, as it “forces passengers to rush” to pick up orders, which they say puts workers’ safety at risk.
When Gordon asked what types of benefits are granted to delivery passengers in the country, Villanueva said there are still no established guidelines in this regard.
“The DOLE is admitting that there are no specific guidelines as this particular industry is in some way a new economy,” Villanueva said.
In response, Gordon asked for this to be addressed, saying, “We have to give certain definitions … for what we call new emerging industries, and define what their relationship is and what kind of rights they might have.”
Meanwhile, Foodpanda has issued a statement to explain its policy adjustments.
“Foodpanda communicated the new payment structure to our independent food delivery passengers prior to its implementation in June 2020,” it said. “With the new scheme, passengers are now compensated based on the delivery distance, which makes the payment structure more organized and fair.” The company noted that the new scheme has been implemented in stages over the past five months.
“Foodpanda passengers are valuable partners in the Foodpanda delivery ecosystem … We want to assure our passenger partners that the company is investigating their concerns,” the company added.
Earlier, several GrabFood motorcyclists also expressed their dismay at what they said was a steep drop in delivery jobs for Grab Philippines, due to a reservation system that they noted prioritized their motorcycle counterparts.
However, Grab Philippines maintained that it only uses technology that ensures efficient deliveries, but added that it will consider feedback from its passengers.
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