Hyderabad: TGPWU slams app-based food delivery

Hyderabad: The Telangana Gig and Platform Workers' Union (TGPWU) has stated that the recent announcements of Deepinder Goyal, the founder of app-based food delivery service Zomato, are nothing but ploys to divert attention from their disregard for delivery workers' rights in the country.

The union issued a statement saying that the latest announcement of Goyal about a substantial investment into 'Zomato Future Foundation' was an attempt to save the tarnished image of his public company, which recently also faced a backlash for the rolling out of 10-minute deliveries.

The union said it is difficult to trust the founder's intentions when his company is testing drone delivery in a bid to minimise employing labour for deliveries. It said what delivery workers need is to be protected by a labour legislation and not Goyal's charity. "Legally enforceable laws and enhanced bargaining power have protected the interests of workers, and not charitable foundations set up as a PR exercise".

"If Goyal is indeed so concerned about children of his 'partners', how about ensuring that every delivery worker, irrespective of the years spent at his company, is entitled to a living wage, does not overwork, has a social security net, and is covered under compensation laws when they suffer disability or death on the job?" they asked.

The union demanded Zomato to make public all the names of the delivery workers who have died while working or suffered disabilities, along with the compensation provided to them. They wanted life insurance of workers be raised from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 50 lakh for all partners.

They said companies like Zomato have shown unparalleled innovation in evading legal protection for workers and finding means to continually steal from workers' incomes.

"Since you have already labelled your workers 'partners', how about you translate that into reality and allot them majority shares in your public company? Maybe that would be a better way to convince us that you care for your 'partners'. It is, after all, their unpaid and under-paid labour which have created wealth for you and your company," they said.