KUALA LUMPUR: E-hailing and p-hailing riders today admitted that there have been slight changes in their payout by food and transport delivery companies over the years.
Speaking to the New Strait Times on the condition of anonymity, they said their monthly income has reduced significantly. Some said they only earned between RM2,500 and RM3,000 compared with the RM3,500 and RM4,000 before.
They cited the Covid-19 pandemic as among the many reasons why e-hailing and p-hailing companies revised their payment and bonus structure.
One rider who only wanted to be known as Shuk, who has been a rider since 2018, said when he started, he used to get RM7 for any delivery within a 5km distance and each subsequent kilometre was 70sen.
"But this changed during the pandemic because many businesses closed down and people got laid off their jobs.
"Now we only get paid RM5 for each trip," the 39-year-old from Selangor said, adding that this has affected his income by at least RM1,000 monthly.
"Our trips and payment also became lesser over time due to the sudden influx of riders. It is possible that some of companies had to reduce the incentive benefits and perks to enable more riders to come onboard," said Shuk, who did not participate in the protest held on Friday.
He claimed that most of the riders who took part in the protest were new riders who joined after the pandemic movement restriction order was lifted.
Another rider Fazli Mohd @ Liie, 40, from Keramat, agreed with some of the demands made by the protesters, namely the one where a double order to the same area should still be paid the base rate of RM 5.
"The first order we would be paid RM5, but for the subsequent order they don't pay us the same base rate. Instead we are paid a few ringgit less, although it's a whole new order, but because it is in the same area or nearby, we get paid less," he said.
Fazli said as the company charges a customer for the second order the same amount, riders should also be paid the same amount.
Roy, 25, from Bandar Saujana Putra, said he has been a full-time rider for the past three years and he too felt the pinch from the changes made by the p-hailing company that he works for.
The soon-to-be-father, who is expecting his first child in November, said he used to work on the weekdays only but now due to the higher cost of living and with a baby on the way, he has to work during weekends too.
"Two years ago I could make around RM2,800 to RM3,500 a month by working on weekdays only. But now even by working extra shifts on the weekends, there are months that I can only take home RM3,200 or less," he added.
He said it was high time that the government and p-hailing companies reviewed and discussed some of these shortcomings because the cost of living had also increased.
Roy said the company he was working for used to have a 'bonus perintis', which would give both the rider and the company a win-win situation, but this was recently replaced with the Diamond Bonus System.
"This system does not reflect the hard work and risk each of the riders take to get the deliveries done," he said.
The three riders, however, did not deny that several social welfare perks had been introduced and implemented since they first joined the company more than three years ago.
On Friday, a team of riders went on a 24-hour strike, making five demands to Grab Malaysia.
The groups plight had even caught the attention of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob who sent one of his officers to meet with them.
The group handed a memorandum of understanding to a Grab representative at its headquarters in Petaling Jaya the same evening.
Among the demands were for Grab to re-evaluate and increase the fare price paid to the riders according to the distance from the pickup place to the delivery address; to reinstate the bonus system which allowed them to make more money according to trips and targets; to do away with the timetable or schedule system, which benefitted only the full-time riders; and to abolish the rider account barring feature and cash system used presently.