Asian Food Delivery Service Hungry Panda Criticised Over Labour Disputes

A food delivery driver rides an electric bicycle across a street in Beijing on June 19, 2020. Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images

A Chinese food delivery company has been accused of unfairly treating workers to Australia.

On Feb. 23, Wang Zhuoying, a delivery rider of food delivery company Hungry Panda, spent her 40th birthday together with fellow delivery workers asking for fairness from her employer.

She stopped receiving orders from the company after protesting for fair pay and dangerously short delivery deadlines.

“It’s my 40th birthday today, but it’s not a beautiful birthday. I wish to defend my legal rights with actions” she said.

The protests, organised with the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU), followed Australian federal parliament’s legislation to set minimum standards in the gig economy.

Ms. Wang, as part of a transport industry delegation to Parliament House, shared with parliamentarians the financial impact Hungry Panda’s actions have had on her, including her inability to pay rent since she stopped receiving orders.

“I argued with them. Some riders get many orders in a day, but I don’t. I asked the platform why… They just respond uniformly that it’s the system that allocates the orders,” she told SBS Mandarin.

Losing work from the platform has put Ms. Wang into a dire financial situation.

“I am about to pay my rent but have no money now. I’m currently getting my meals from the girl who lives in my room,” she said.

The protests started with a drop in the base delivery rate from $7 (US$4.57) to $4 for motorcycle riders and from $6 to $5 for bicycle riders.

In addition, Hungry Panda’s ‘bonus’ scheme asks riders to complete a particular number of deliveries in a set timeframe to receive a one-off payment. To qualify for the bonuses, riders must meet unrealistic deadlines.

Emily McMillan, TWU chief of campaigns, said Hungry Panda’s actions showed the need to enact minimum standards in the gig economy as quickly as possible.

“It is appalling that a company would retaliate against a worker raising issues of safety and unfair pay. Zhuoying and other riders are bravely standing up again today to demand Hungry Panda commit to reverse pay cuts and put an end to deadly pressures to work faster and longer,” she said.

“The state of the gig economy shows the urgent need for minimum standards. The TWU will be engaging in urgent discussions with gig companies to work towards putting those standards in place to ensure workers have safe, secure jobs.”

The TWU has filed an adverse action case in the Fair Work Commission on behalf of Ms. Wang, with a directions hearing held on Feb. 26 to set dates for the matter to be heard.

Hungry Panda’s History with Labourers

This is not the first time the Chinese company facing dissatisfaction from its workers in Australia.

In 2021, Hungry Panda sacked two riders who organised protests over pay cuts. After six weeks of rider protests and unfair dismissal claims, their pay rates were restored and the two sacked riders reinstated. One of them, Yang Jun, also joined recent protests.

In 2022, two years after Chen Xiaojun, a Hungry Panda delivery rider died after being hit by a bus while working for the company, his family was awarded $834,000 under the NSW workers’ compensation scheme.

Mr. Chen died while riding his motorbike in the Sydney suburb of Zetland on Sept. 29, 2020, survived by his wife Wei Lihong, their two children, and his 75-year-old father.

The case was considered a landmark at the time, with the TWU saying that it was the first of its kind in which a gig worker was found to be an employee in relation to workers’ compensation.

Hungry Panda Slammed for Denying Retaliation

On the other side, Hungry Panda denied that it had reduced orders for Ms. Wang as retaliation for her participation in the protests.

“Our order adjustment for Ms. Wang is based on her own repeated disturbances in the downtown area. The adjustments in question were made prior to her participation in union-related protest actions, so there is no causal relationship,” a spokesperson of the company told Chinese media AusToday.

The spokesperson added that proceedings relating to the incident have been referred to the Fair Work Commission.

“Our decisions and initiatives are well founded and we are confident that the relevant investigative bodies will give a fair verdict,” they said.

The response triggered harsh criticism from the Chinese community in Australia.

“The new ex-Meituan manager of Hungry Panda Australia has brought the nasty habit of the Chinese takeout industry to Australia,” Aaron Chang, a Chinese activist known as “Sydney Winnie” wrote in a Feb. 24 post on X platform (formerly Twitter).

“The retaliatory reduction of orders aimed at labor movement leaders is described in such grandiose terms. Calling legitimate protests ‘disturbance in the downtown area.’”