Food couriers in Finland are calling for improved pay and working conditions.
"Wolt is a big player, a big fish. No one can do anything about it alone. We need to organise and negotiate together," Papy Nkunda told Yle during a break in talks between the couriers' representatives and the Finnish delivery giant Wolt.
Nkunda noted that the fee Wolt pays to couriers for food deliveries has gradually decreased, from 4-5 euros per delivery a few years ago to 3.20 euros today.
"Next year it may be closer to two euros. Perhaps after that, closer to one euro. We are really concerned about this," he said, adding that making a decent living as a courier is becoming increasingly difficult.
"With Wolt, to get good money, you have to be outside at least 12 hours," he said, adding that it's normal to earn around 75 euros in 12 hours. The courier must also pay for food, fuel and taxes.
Wolt began changing its payment policies about two years ago, prompting objections from couriers as well as localised strikes.
The company also won a landmark case at an administrative court earlier this year, in a ruling that found its couriers should be viewed as entrepreneurs, not employees.
The situation led the couriers to form their own trade union, called PAM Couriers Finland, under the umbrella of the service workers union PAM. Nkunda is the courier union's chair and was worked as a courier for Wolt for several years.
Negotiations with the company began last December, as the couriers sought an increase in the fee paid per food delivery.
However, Wolt has not been willing to change its policies, and the union reported last week that the talks are at a slatemate.
"We don't even know how serious the negotiations are. We are going around the same issue, money, but I don't know if anything will happen," Nkunda said.
Workers unite
The standoff over pay and conditions in the food delivery sector is a harbinger of similar issues in other digital-led industries.
On Tuesday, more than 70 drivers working with the taxi service Bolt demonstrated in Helsinki.
The drivers were protesting because the commission charged by Bolt – which has risen to about 23 percent – is so high that they say even long hours do not provide a decent living.
Trade unions and worker strikes are a relatively new phenomenon in these sectors, because generally the couriers and the taxi drivers operate as individuals and not as employees in the traditional sense.
These platform-based service providers — such as Bolt, Foodora and Wolt — charge a commission of between 20-30 percent of earnings, according to an analysis by Yle. In the case of the food delivery companies, such as Foodora and Wolt, this commission relates to the fees charged to restaurants for delivering their products.
Olivia Maury, a lecturer at the University of Helsinki, told Yle that the gradual raising of commissions and lowering of agent fees is a feature of the industry — as the companies seek to take as a large a slice of the pie as possible.
The companies usually start off with low commissions and generous fees, Maury noted, but once they establish their position in the marketplace, the numbers begin to change.
Wolt: Majority work part-time and are satisfied
Yle reached out to representatives of Wolt, Bolt and Foodora for their views on the couriers' calls for better pay and conditions.
The response from all three firms was broadly the same: they said their companies must cover overhead, develop and diversify business activities, and keep prices competitive for customers.
In relation to the calls by courier workers for better pay, Wolt said it has been advocating for years for the sector to be better regulated, noting further that it has been active in negotiations with PAM about clarifying the roles and responsibilities for couriers it works with.
Based on its own surveys, the company added that the majority of its couriers work part-time, or an average of about 14 hours per week, and they are satisfied with the work and their status.
All three companies also argued that the commissions they charge to restaurants and taxi drivers are reasonable.
"It's clear that we could not operate without drivers. Brokerage fees are raised very carefully and would not be done unless we were sure that it would have long-term positive effects on drivers as well," Bolt Finland's country manager Mikael Uusivuori told Yle.
"The level of commissions charged to restaurants has never been lower in Finland than it is now. We have several cooperation models and options for different needs," said Ilari Nikku, Wolt Finland's commercial director.
"Consumers want to order food to their homes from platforms. This is a low-margin business, and most of the commission's 'commission' goes to expenses," said Einar Toivonen, Foodora's VP of restaurants and strategy.
While all three companies are considered to be giants in their arenas — with large multinational backers in the case of Wolt and Foodora — all three reported losses for 2023, and they each operate in fiercely competitive markets.
"We need to be able to operate sustainably in the long term. Decisions are always made on a partner-by-partner basis," Nikku said.
Part-time good, full-time bad
The recent developments in the sector have caught the attention of researchers, with Laura Seppänen of Finland's public health authority THL noting that courier work can be beneficial if it is used to complement other sources of income.
She cited the results of a study carried out by Statistics Finland last year, which found that 76 percent of couriers felt that the remuneration they received was fair. The majority of the respondents to the study performed the courier work as a side job, and reported feeling that they had control over the number of hours they worked.
"If there are other sources of income, this kind of work shows its best side. Many people find it very good and liberating," Seppänen noted, but noted however that the situation is different if a person relies solely on delivery work for their livelihood.
"If app-based work is the only source of income, the unfairness is more apparent," she said.
The amount of work, and the amount of money it's possible to earn, depends on a number of uncontrollable factors, such as customer demands, how many couriers might be working at any one time, and the app's algorithm
"It's busy on weekends. But on Mondays or Tuesdays, no one orders almost anything, there is no food to deliver and there is no money," courier union chair Nkunda explained.
According to Statistics Finland, around 130,000 people performed some kind of app-based work in the country at least once during 2022. Wolt, for example, has about 6,000 active couriers, Nkunda said.
However, food couriers have seen their earnings dwindle, while Bolt drivers say they don't even know how much they will make from a particular fare.
"Everyone would like some kind of security and transparency in what kind of calculations the earnings from their work are based on," Olivia Maury of the University of Helsinki said.
Nkunda noted that many immigrants choose to work with Wolt or Bolt because there are few or no alternatives. Some need to supplement their incomes to meet the conditions of their residence permits.
"Many have families and more than two children. Livelihoods are tight," Nkunda said. "We hope that through the negotiations there will be changes and we get help for the hundreds who do not earn enough."
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