UAE: Food delivery platform comes to a halt over work issues

Several residents, including restaurateurs, took to social media to express their ire over ‘delays’ as delivery giant Deliveroo faced some work-related issues.

Restaurant co-owner Annu George reported that they had not received any order from Deliveroo the whole day. “It is quite unusual,” she said. “Usually, we receive several lunch orders on the Deliveroo platform but today we received nothing. Towards the evening, we received an e-mail from them that they were working to get their issues resolved.”

Social media posts by riders suggested that hundreds of them resented alleged pay cuts and refused to cooperate until they were given ‘better work conditions’. The firm reportedly cut order rates and increased the working hours of their drivers after the fuel price hikes.

In a late-evening e-mail to its restaurant partners, Deliveroo said: “ We are currently facing an issue with our riders, where riders are striking and refusing to attend their shifts and deliver orders. Rest assured our team is working closely to resolve this issue as quickly as possible while continuing to protect Deliveroo rider earnings.”

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Some riders took to Twitter saying the per-delivery rate has been slashed significantly, while others claimed they were being made to work longer hours.

Certain others demanded to be made direct employees of the company rather than being employed through a contractor.

nasreen@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE