Food delivery service Wolt was unable to provide its services to parts on Nicosia on Thursday due to an ongoing strike by the drivers.
Protesting for the third day in a row now, the drivers say their wages continue to be slashed amid increasing fuel costs – which they have to cover themselves – and a higher cost of living.
A message on the Wolt website and app now says “sorry, delivery in your area is temporarily closed. There aren’t enough partners in your area right now – so we can’t take any new delivery orders for a while. You can place an order for pickup or try again later. Sorry for the hassle!”
Drivers who spoke to the Cyprus Mail on condition of anonymity said they will continue their strikes until a solution is found. “So far, no one has come to speak to us about anything.”
Instead, many of the drivers have had their Wolt accounts deactivated. The delivery service said this was done “to ensure the proper operation and service for the customer.”
HTTPS:/CYPRUS-MAIL.COM/WP-CONTENT/UPLOADS/2022/12/WHATSAPP-IMAGE-2022-12-15-AT-11.00.06-AM.JPEG
A picture of a posted reading “Solidarity to delivery drivers! Boycott Wolt” was being circulated around social media.
The way the delivery system operates is that Wolt has third-party companies called fleet managers, which employ their own drivers. Wolt compensates the fleet managers with a rate of around €8.5 which factors in time, distance, accessibility and couriers’ availability, according to the company.
It is then up to the fleet managers to distribute the wages to drivers. The problem lies in the fact that these fleet managers – usually agents that also prepare the paperwork for the drivers – keep a cut of around 40 per cent. Some 30 per cent is an “agent fee” while the rest includes social insurance contributions.
Most drivers are third-country nationals and accuse the fleet managers of exploiting them because of that.
“They are using us. They think because we are students that we don’t have any other choice.
“We are in the streets every day, risking our lives to do our job and then they cut our salaries. The normal thing is that the longer you work in a company, you get an increase not a decrease.
“We hope that the Cypriot people can support us. We bring them their food and coffee every day, we hope they can support us.”
Wolt has distanced itself from the strike saying the problem is with the arrangements between drivers and fleet managers.
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Mail
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Mail
Source
