DOLE to inspect labor practices of Foodpanda

Foodpanda riders in Davao City display signs signifying their protest on July 15, to denounce Foodpanda’s alleged unfair wage policies. (Contributed photo)

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will inspect the labor practices of food delivery service Foodpanda after some of its riders have complained of the company’s wage policy.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Monday that he instructed Usec. Ana Dione, of DOLE’s Regional Operations, Labor Standards and Special Concerns Cluster, to inspect the labor practices of the food delivery company.

“Binigyan ko ng instruction kahapon pa si Undersecretary Ana Dione to inspect the Foodpanda kasi may mga protesta against the Foodpanda for violation of labor rights and mukhang tine-threaten sila [riders],” Bello told an online media briefing.

(I instructed Undersecretary Ana Dione to inspect the Foodpanda because there are some riders protesting against Foodpanda for violation of labor rights. It seems these riders are being threatened.)

“Pina-inspect ko ‘yan [I ordered an inspection] and hopefully in time we will be able to get feedback,” he added.

Bello said the inspection aims to identify the real situation of the riders of the popular food delivery company.

He also cited several parties involved in the delivery service, which he called a new concept of employment. The parties involved, said Bello, are the customers, the restaurants, the riders, and Foodpanda itself.

“So in order to determine whether there is employee-employer relationship, you have to find out kung sino ang naghire. Pangalawa, you find out kung sino ang nagbabayad ng sweldo. Pangatlo, sino ang may kontrol sa trabaho? Pang-apat, sino ang nagteterminate? Doon ang mga issues,” he said.

(So in order to determine the employee-employer relationship, you have to find out who hired them. Second, you need to know who pays their salary. Third, who is in control of their jobs? Fourth, who terminates their contract? These are the issues.)

“Considering the novelty of this relation, we are waiting for the result of that inspection and as soon as we can come up with findings, then we can come up with issuance on how to govern this new form of employment or working relation,” Bello concluded.

Some 300 Foodpanda riders staged a protest in Davao City on Thursday, complaining of reduced earnings due to changes in policies that were supposedly not made clear to them.

Foodpanda also slapped a 10-year suspension on some of its riders in Davao City last week, a day before they were set to stay offline to protest against the app’s wage policy.

The riders have complained that beginning in November 2019, the company reduced their earnings by more than half. For instance, if a rider used to receive P75 on average for delivery, he can now only receive a maximum of P28.

“We are not asking for anything more than what we deserve. But we must know how the computation is done,” said Glen Costan, spokesperson of the Davao United Delivery Riders Association Inc.

Foodpanda Philippines earlier said it had suspended riders who have broken their agreement with the company, causing “disruptions to operations that affect the wider ecosystem of restaurant-partners and customers.”

JPV