And you thought that once the “Busha, Busha” people took a break between their protests Tel Aviv motorists would be left alone for a brief moment. No such thing. On Wednesday morning, a huge swarm of messenger Vespas and electric bicycles barged into the Dizengoff Circle, slowing traffic down to a snail’s pace to protest the way Wolt, the food-delivery-to-your-door people is treating them.
In Israel, the Czech Republic, Greece, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, Croatia, Germany, and Serbia, Wolt introduced a “dynamic pricing” system, and the couriers claim that the new method significantly lowered their wages––by about 20-25%, and eliminated transparency.
According to a Gig Economy Project investigation, Wolt’s new contract which couriers have been signing since January 17, states that the data determining the new payment rate––determined algorithmically–cancels the previous wage scale, and today the pay is being calculated according to delivery distance, weather conditions, the size of the delivery, the location of the courier or the restaurant and the time of day.
But there are other components of which the courier is not aware, such as the amount he or she has already earned, the number of deliveries they received in a given period, and their behavior. TGEP emphasizes that the new contract allegedly states that “the courier partner will not be notified of the specific parameters and/or changes in the parameters that affect the proposed fee.”
In other words, you go ahead and work, we’ll let you know how much you’re getting for today’s work. No idea about tomorrow.
Brave new world.
