Delivery, grocery work during pandemic: 'Everyone is not on the same boat'

Photos: AA

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Courier and grocery workers have said that they are working more but not able to receive overtime payments during the pandemic, according to a new study.

Sixteen motorcycle couriers and 11 grocery store workers were interviewed as part of the study carried out by Universus Social Research Center between July and September.

Also, online surveys were conducted among 116 courier workers and 101 grocery workers from 33 of the 39 districts of İstanbul.

Both groups of workers stated that their working hours increased during the pandemic.

Longer and intensified working hours were not reflected in the salaries of workers while their expenditures increased, says the report.

Unpaid overtime work was the most common injustice that the workers were subjected to, workers said. They also noted that their requests for shortened working hours were not accepted by their employers or executives.

"Especially the data obtained under the 'Health, security and assurance' shows that the claims made by the government and other policy makers in the early period of the pandemic that everyone was on the same boat and differences such as rich and poor became ambigious did not correspond to any fact," says the report.

When asked about whether they were concerned about tomorrow or the future, 95 out of 116 motorcycle couriers said "yes," 14 said "partly" and seven said "no." Among the 101 grocery workers, 76 said "yes," 15 said "partly" and 10 said "no."

"The most important reason for employees to stand these conditions is not to become unemployed in the period of the pandemic," says the report.

Customer behavior during the pandemic was also among the issues that the workers complained about as 85 out of 116 motorcycle couriers said it had changed negatively.

When asked how they would describe customers, grocery workers responded, "not understanding, unaware, rude and capricious."

While the unionization rate among the workers was very low, some platforms that had been launched as solidarity networks were becoming more organized, the report underlines. (AS/VK)