Report on food delivery rider unrest (2017-2018)
2019-10-22
It is generally believed that delivery workers could hardly protest with collective effort, as they are individuals in the gig economy. However, data shows a phenomenon of the opposite: A total of 47 protests had been launched by delivery workers between August 2017 and July 2018; collective actions took place more frequently especially at later stage, i.e. between May and July 2018, that was referred to as “national food delivery worker unrest”. This report will introduce the background of the industry, its emergence, working conditions of delivery workers, and analyse their protests in the past year.