Drivers of Gojek’s delivery arm plan strike in protest of reduced incentives

Drivers of Gojek’s delivery arm, GoSend, are planning to refuse orders on Tuesday, according to messages distributed via WhatsApp groups. The protest is in response to the company’s plan to cut incentives for deliveries by more than half the current rate.

Photo credit: Gojek

Yulianto, a GoSend driver and appointed spokesperson for the strike, told KrAsia that the protests will run for three days in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi, and Bandung. Drivers in these areas will refuse to take delivery orders. “We will ask large sellers in the respective areas to turn off the GoSend Same Day option, and we will also ask customers not to use the feature,” he said.

Around 1,000 GoSend Same Day drivers will participate, Yulianto said. On the first day, aside from refusing orders, drivers will send flower wreaths to Gojek’s offices in Kemang, South Jakarta, to express their disappointment, as the planned incentive reduction came just after the company’s merger announcement with ecommerce platform Tokopedia.

A presentation slide by Gojek shows that GoSend’s new incentive scheme will significantly cut drivers’ income. / Photo credit: Yulianto

“We [drivers] really hoped that the formation of GoTo would give us a decent livelihood,” Yulianto added. “But with this reduction, that hope was shattered.” With the protest, the drivers demand Gojek rescind the new scheme and revert to the previous one.

The incentive reduction was communicated during an in-person meeting on June 2, to which Gojek invited several driver representatives, Yulianto said. A presentation slide indicated that the change will come into effect on June 8.

Previously, drivers received 10,000 Indonesian rupiah (US$0.70) for five completed deliveries. Under the new system, they will only get 5,000 Indonesian rupiah (US$0.35) for the same amount of work. Despite slashing the bonus, Gojek didn’t raise the fixed tariff of 2,000 Indonesian rupiah (US$0.14) per kilometer.

“If they want to lower our incentives, they should have given us a solution, like increasing the tariff per kilometer. But right now, there is a change with no solution,” Yulianto said. There was no discussion with drivers prior to the announcement, he added.