In a series of tweets on Tuesday, the Zomato executive clarified who was behind the strike and detailed the delivery workflow, from pickup and packaging to drop-off.
“Most of our delivery partners did not want to go on a strike yesterday. The 0.1% miscreants I mentioned in the tweet below were illegally snatching parcels from those who wanted to work, beating them up, and threatening to damage their bikes. Which is why local law authorities had to intervene on their own.”
His stance was clear: gig workers are not exploited.
With regard to the gig workers’ protest on Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Goyal alleged that a small group of terminated riders disrupted operations by forcibly stopping others from working.
He claimed these individuals had previously been removed from the platform for repeated abuse and fraud and were attempting to pressure the company into reinstating them, possibly with support from politically motivated elements seeking media attention.
Goyal explained that the promise of a 10-minute delivery is broken down into approximately 2.5 minutes for pickup and packing, while the remaining eight minutes involve the delivery partner travelling an average distance of 2 km at an average speed of 15 kmph.
Further, he acknowledged that quick deliveries may seem “hard to imagine,” but they aren’t a gimmick. He emphasised that millions of riders voluntarily choose platform work, sometimes even over regular jobs.
Gig workers’ unions claimed that over 200,000 delivery riders joined the flash strike on December 31 across the country.
ET reported that food delivery and quick commerce platforms clocked record-high order numbers on December 31 — unaffected by the gig workers strike.
Eternal-owned Zomato and Blinkit, the market leaders in food delivery and quick commerce, together delivered an all-time high of over 75 lakh orders on New Year’s Eve on Wednesday, the company’s founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said.
Similarly, food delivery firm Swiggy, its quick commerce unit Instamart, Zepto, and other platforms also recorded a spike in orders.
Also Read: New year celebrations, at home & out: Online delivery rides on, mostly untouched by stir
The unions called for the strikes, demanding better pay, safer working conditions, and social security benefits. They also called for a ban on 10-minute deliveries, saying it endangers riders’ lives when they rush to meet the delivery time.
