Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal's Friday announcement that he will be donating stock options worth $90 million (nearly Rs 700 crore) to the Zomato Future Foundation (ZFF) to help fund the education of children of its delivery partners did not go down well with the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union, which demanded that Goyal stop paying lip service and instead, actually do something to benefit the company's staffers.
In a press release, the union said, "This sudden concern for delivery workers that Mr Goyal has expressed is nothing but a ploy to divert attention from the very recent protests by Zomato delivery workers in several cities against the ‘GIGS’ payment system, and the growing voices of concern, including by Justice D Y Chandrachud, about the need to protect the rights of app-based workers in India."
"It is also difficult to trust Mr Goyal’s intentions as honest when his company is testing drone-delivery in a bid to minimise employing human labour for deliveries," the union added.
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The union said, "If Mr Goyal is indeed so concerned about the children of his ‘partners’, how about (he) ensure that every delivery worker, irrespective of the years spent at his company, is entitled to a living wage, does not overwork, has a social security net, and is covered under compensation laws when they suffer disability or death on the job?"
"The children of delivery workers will be happier if you do not cheat their parents of their earnings, and treat them like human beings deserving of dignity and rest," the statement read.
The union further demanded that the term 'partner' be used literally. "Mr Goyal, since you have already labelled your workers ‘partners’, how about you translate that into reality and allot them majority shares in your public company? Maybe that would be a better way to convince us that you care for your ‘partners’. It is after all their unpaid and underpaid labours which have created wealth for you and your company," the union said, inviting Goyal to meet them and discuss their demands.
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