Govt to tackle problems facing GrabFood, Foodpanda riders - Saravanan

Human Resources Minister  M Saravanan today gave his assurance that the government will look into the plight of GrabFood and Foodpanda riders through discussions with the respective companies.

He said the complaints and problems raised by the food delivery riders, especially on their welfare and fare rate, would be attended to by the government and whatever solutions made would be in accordance with existing policies.

“I can assure their problems will be attended. We are trying to reduce the unemployment rate, so we will do whatever we can to solve the issues,” Saravanan (above) told reporters after receiving a memorandum from the food delivery riders at the ministry in Putrajaya today.

More than 100 people, including representatives from Gerakan Tuntut Malaysia (Tuntut), GrabFood, and Foodpanda, gathered outside the ministry to hand the memorandum to Saravanan.

A GrabFood rider, Khairi Hasim, 41, said among the problems they faced were on the changing standard operating procedures, as well as on delivery charge.

“Another issue is that GrabCar is still allowed to make food delivery although the Movement Control Order (MCO) is over. They are taking passengers, as well as making food delivery, which is affecting the motorcycle food riders,” he added.

For Foodpanda rider Jeffry Rizal Jamaluddin, 45, he claimed that the system used by his employer resulted in him bringing home less pay.

He said their salary is calculated manually by using the ‘Excel’ application and the people doing it always made errors.

He added that the weakness of the Roadrunner GPS application that they used also affected their performance.

“It cannot detect the food rider’s movement or when the food rider is taking a 30-minute break. During the break, the riders cannot receive any orders," Jeffry said.

"Even though we have arrived at the restaurants and picked-up orders, or even take photographs as proof to the customer service unit, we (are still recorded as on) break,” he added.

- Bernama