'Deliverooted': Food Delivery Drivers Are Very Pissed About Their Wages

Food delivery services like Deliveroo, Foodora, and UberEats seemed too good to be true at first—your food comes to you like you're some kind of royalty, for only a handful of change above the regular cost of your meal… how is that even possible? Well, probably because the poor sods puffing their way to your doorstep with a bag of burgers are paid pretty badly.

Accordingly, protests in Sydney this week have seen food delivery drivers picketing alongside the Transport Workers Union (TWU) ahead of the Fair Work Commission’s annual review of award wages.

Both are calling on the Federal Government to regulate food delivery companies more stringently amid claims of reduced wages and unsafe riding conditions. They carried signs with the words "Deliverooted", "Fraudora", and "Stop uber-eating into our wages".

As reported by The Guardian/AAP, one rider, Matt, told reporters: “When I started two-and-a-half years ago, the standard contract was $14 an hour and $5 dollars a delivery. Those are now looked at as the golden old days. I now know riders that are doing $7 a delivery and zero dollars an hour – these guys are making $14, $7 or zero dollars an hour.”

According to the ABC, key food delivery companies recently changed their payment model from an hourly rate to a per-job fee. "I'm fed up with just how poor the conditions have got," rider Josh Kluger told the network. "It was great in the beginning and everyone was being paid a decent rate but it's just fallen to $7 an hour, no guarantee."

Tony Sheldon, national secretary of TWU, told reporters at the protest that food delivery drivers were being ripped off by food delivery companies, and called on the Fair Work Commission to protect riders. “We need to make sure we have a system in this country that works for everybody,” Sheldon said. “Deliveroo, Foodora and Uber Eats are really carrying out wage theft. They’re stealing from hardworking people, who are delivering to our homes right around our country, by underpaying them.”

Speaking to Fairfax Media, a Foodora spokesperson said food delivery work was part of the gig economy, which made it “unique, functional and appealing to workers”. Foodora drivers, she added, are also free to ride for other companies at the same time.

“There are no guarantees in terms of hourly wage, they have the freedom to work when and where they want, as much as they want,” the spokesperson added. “They have ability to accept and reject delivery orders as they wish." UberEats said in a statement that "Delivery partners tell us they choose Uber because of the flexibility the app provides in letting them earn money in hours that suit them and their families."

This has been on the TWU's agenda for a while. The union launched a campaign in January 2018 to increase membership among food delivery drivers in an attempt to improve their working conditions and wages.

A (TWU) survey of riders in Sydney and Melbourne revealed that most riders were men, many were not native English speakers, and more than three-quarters earned less than the minimum wage. "A large number of these workers—over 70 per cent—are requiring this work for their substantive means of employment," Tony Sheldon, national secretary of TWU, told the ABC at the time. "People are working in some cases more than 80 hours a week trying to etch a living.