Delivery Couriers in Prague Plan Protest Against Declining Pay Rates

Couriers working for delivery companies Wolt and Foodora are gearing up for a protest over ongoing pay cuts and a lack of transparency in their pay system.

Scheduled for Monday, April 22, in Prague, the event is expected to draw around 200 participants.

The protest is predicted to mirror the sizeable turnout of a similar movement back in February, with the primary grievance among the couriers about what they claim is a vague pay system.

“We don’t know how the calculation is done, and the same order often yields different payments,” explained Patrik Svatoň, a Foodora courier and one of the protest’s primary organizers.

The demonstrators are demanding the implementation of a minimum payment of CZK 80 per delivery, as well as a transparent system of compensating distance traveled, at a rate of CZK 20 per kilometer.

This comes in response to a recent significant change in pay structure, which used to consist of a base fee in addition to a distance surcharge, a system that couriers often found more favorable.

The protest is set to commence with speeches and petition signing at Wenceslas Square in the morning, followed by an organized march to the offices of Wolt and Foodora at 1:00 p.m., where protestors plan to present their demands directly to company management.

Despite attempts to resolve the issues through dialogue with their employers, the couriers claim that their concerns are often met with silence, being ultimately forced to pursue public protest.

In response to the planned protest, Jana Jarošová, a spokeswoman for Wolt, asserted that the majority of their 7,000 couriers are satisfied and that overall earnings have increased.

However, couriers like Lukáš Červený, who works for both companies, contest these claims. “The system generates many financially undervalued orders, and sometimes the payment doesn’t even cover the costs of the worker,” Červený reported.

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