Reinstate fired Foodpanda riders--rights group

 

The motorcycle riders’ rights group Kapatiran ng Dalawang Gulong (Kagulong) called for the reinstatement of 43 riders based in Davao City who were suspended for 10 years by food delivery company Foodpanda. The app suspended about a hundred “accounts” attached to the riders for planning a protest concerning the diminution in their income per delivery. Some riders were later reinstated after they allegedly provided information about the scheduled protest.

 

Don Pangan, Kagulong secretary-general, said that “We are one with the members of Davao United Delivery Riders Association Inc. whose members are Foodpanda riders from Davao City in their struggle for just pay and against the suspension of 43 riders for 10 years because they are exercising their right to express their grievances.”

 

The group also welcomed the move by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to call Foodpanda and the 43 riders to a dialogue to thresh out the issue. “We are also calling on the DOLE to deliver its commitment to convene the Technical Working Group represented by rider’s groups, trade unions, worker’s organizations and concerned government agencies to start the research and investigation that would lead to creating policy standards to protect the gig workers,” Pangan insisted.

 

Food panda riders turned offline for two days and staged a 500-strong unity ride last July 16 to protest the app’s wage policy because they noticed they had been earning less lately from each delivery.

 

Grievances and protests by food delivery riders are increasing amidst their high profile as frontliners and essential workers amidst the pandemic. Last November 18, 2020 Kagulong led some 700 Foodpanda riders in Metro Manila in a protest motorcade that ended in the DOLE main office in Intramuros. The riders aired their grievances about reduced pay, imposed penalties and the lack of transparency in their working conditions.

 

Pangan averred that “What happened with our brothers and sisters in Davao City clearly manifested the need to probe the employment status of gig workers to ensure just pay, benefits and job security,” Pangan insisted.

 

In a global study (http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/16880.pdf), labor researchers found out that food delivery riders launched the greatest number of protests among app or platform workers. The most prominent grievance concerned pay although employment status also figured as a secondary issue. In Asian countries such as Indonesia and India, gig workers have formed associations or unions. Similar organizing and struggles by food delivery riders in Europe, Australia and Latin America was also revealed in the study. 

Kapatiran ng Dalawang Gulong (Kagulong)

July 20, 2021

 

Youth group supports frontliners’ call for timeout

The youth and student group Partido Manggagawa-Kabataan (PM-Kabataan) expressed solidarity with the call of medical frontliners for a two-week “time out” in the Mega Manila area in order to arrest the spread of covid and recalibrate the response to the pandemic. PM-Kabataan is the youth wing of the labor group Partido Manggagawa.

 

Jonel Labrador, PM-Kabataan coordinator, said that “We stand with doctors, nurses and other medical frontliners in their demand for a time out before the health system is overwhelmed and so that government can devise an effective strategy. Workers will support this appeal as long as there is ayudang sapat for the duration of the time out and there will be balik trabahong ligtas once the ECQ is lifted. In fact, included in the frontliners’ demands are precisely the provision of aid, public transportation and compliance with workplace safety.”

 

He added that “Medical frontliners are right that they should not be put in a situation where they decide who will live or die once the health system is overwhelmed. Similarly workers should not be forced to choose between contracting covid at work and dying of hunger while jobless.”

 

PM-Kabataan also slammed the opposition of Sen. Cynthia Villar and Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez to the time out call. “In dismissing the call of medical frontliners, Villar and Lopez are being the voice of big business. For them, profit trumps public health. In contrast, PM-Kabataan asserts that if public health and workers’ safety are not secured then there will be no economic recovery for all,” Labrador insisted.

 

He asserted that government should not just consult with medical frontliners but put epidemiologists not generals in charge of the covid response. “Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea’s reply that the IATF will discuss the call of medical frontliners is not enough. The generals at the helm of IATF should be put on time out and replaced by epidemiologists and medical experts. The battle against covid is a public health concern not a peace and order issue,” Labrador elaborated.

 

He also expressed solidarity with the protest today by motorcycle riders who are opposing the IATF’s policy of no barrier/shield, no back ride policy. “This is not only illogical but also unsafe as proven by transportation experts. But the IATF is monopolized by generals so their vision is tunneled by their peace and order perspective. If you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” explained Labrador.

 

He concluded that “The labor movement, medical frontliners, motorcycle riders, mobility advocates and all affected groups and sectors must ally to push for the right policies to win the war against covid.”

Partido Manggagawa-Kabataa