Kolkata: Last Tuesday, delivery workers of Blinkit Company in Kolkata began an indefinite strike following the company’s decision to introduce a new rate card with per-parcel-earning of Rs. 15 for new riders. The striking workers are demanding that per-parcel-earning should be the same for all rider workers and that new recruits should also be activated using the Rs. 25 ID, which was secured by the workers after a massive strike in September 2022.
Currently, at least 150 workers are on strike in Kestopur and Newtown, while workers at the Chinar Park hub have ended their struggle. According to sources, the Blinkit management retaliated against the striking workers yesterday by transforming all their IDs into Rs. 15 IDs. Meetings between the workers and the management are currently underway but it is unlikely for the workers’ demands to be met.
In September 2022, the company had arbitrarily reduced the delivery riders’ earnings on each parcel from Rs. 50 to Rs. 20, slashing their livelihood by more than half. In response, the protest movement by Blinkit delivery riders in September 2022 had forced every hub in the city to shut down. After almost a month of continued struggle, the workers secured a new rate card with per-parcel-earning amended to Rs. 25, and an incentive slab that allowed per-parcel-earning to jump to close to Rs. 40 if the order target reached 100. The company had also promised not to change rate cards for at least three years, however, no written agreement was made at that time.
Blinkit Management has now gone back on this promise by introducing a new form of ID with a per-parcel-earning of Rs. 15. While older workers will continue to keep their Rs. 25 rate cards, new recruits will only receive Rs. 15 per delivery.
Sources also claim that the new Distance Pay Rate Card (DPRE) permits new recruits to make deliveries beyond the previous limit of 3 kilometers. Due to this, delivery workers will have to make longer deliveries, which would reduce their total number of deliveries per day, and as a result, their daily earnings. Moreover, the company does not bear the cost of returning to the hub after completing a delivery, which means that the increased cost of petrol and bike maintenance due to longer deliveries will be borne by delivery workers themselves. Whether through direct means such as the new ID or through indirect means such as the increased delivery distance, Blinkit’s delivery workers are facing an immense loss of income.
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The striking delivery workers are also concerned that the company may assign more deliveries to new recruits who are on a Rs. 15 rate card than those on a Rs. 25 rate card, as this would be more profitable for the company. Though the older workers would be earning more, their overall earnings may decrease if their deliveries per day are cut. Through such policies, the management can effectively reduce the income of all workers while also creating internal divisions and disunity between the old and new workers.
The company claims that it is making a loss and cannot afford to pay higher earnings to the delivery workers. However, the workers raise questions about the company’s ability to spend massive amounts on advertising and opening new hubs in Madhyamgram and Birati, while claiming to be loss-making. Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa recently told Economic Times that Blinkit is in a position to comfortably grow their dark store count by around 30-40% over the next 12 months. In the third quarter that ended on December 31, 2022, Blinkit reported a revenue of Rs 301 crore, showing a quarter-on-quarter growth of 28%. During the same period, the gross order value (GOV) was Rs 1,749 crore, indicating an 18% quarter-on-quarter growth.
