Food delivery drivers are using platforms’ data-powered systems, mass WeChat groups, and unofficial unions to fight unfair conditions.
Over the past years, China's platform economy has engulfed almost a quarter of the country’s labor force, with an estimated 200 million people working in “flexible” employment.
Many more are forming unofficial unions with the help of social media platforms such as WeChat and Douyin
Couriers have set up WeChat groups of up to 500 people to exchange information on places in the city where it’s difficult to deliver—such as large buildings with multiple lifts or gated communities. These are treated as “no-fly zones,” where couriers refuse to go
The couriers “know it is impossible to deliver in the time expected by the platform,” says Bonini. “So they organize these kinds of collective rejections until that order comes back with a higher price
The most famous informal union is Knights League, which was set up in 2018 for riders to share tips with each other. The most famous gig activist, Chen Guojiang, also known as Mengzhu, reportedly managed 16 WeChat groups reaching over 14,000 delivery drivers. Chen was arrested by Chinese authorities in March of last year on charges of “provoking trouble,” after he tried to mobilize strikes among fellow delivery couriers in Beijing.
This might soon change. On March 1, China introduced an algorithmic law, affecting not only how ecommerce platforms recommend products and social media serves up content, but also how platforms allocate orders, pay salaries, and hand out rewards and penalties for gig workers. Over the next three years, authorities are also planning to set up evaluation teams tasked with making algorithms “fair and transparent.”
The government signaled its stance on gig work with a viral two-minute video, where a local Beijing bureaucrat was shown working as a delivery driver, earning just 41 yuan ($6), enough to pay for a modest meal but not much else.
Labor issues are just one aspect that regulators are hoping to fix. That same week the government video was released, Meituan joined the ranks of tech companies under scrutiny that hit after years of unregulated growth. Like Alibaba, which received a record $2.8 billion fine in April last year, Meituan was fined $530 million for abusing its market position in October. The crackdown has so far wiped out trillions in market value and imposed heavy anti-monopoly penalties on companies operating in the tech sector.
