Ocado under fire over on-demand driver wages

Drivers for the grocer working for its half-hour, on-demand Zoom service had been promised £14 an hour, according to The Observer. But, because many are not directly employed by Ocado, they saw their wages plummet after the grocer bought in a new delivery partner Ryde in June. 

Payslips seen by the paper showed that some drivers earned an estimated £5 an hour in the first week of August and £2.91 an hour in the last week of July.

Faizan Babar, one of the Zoom drivers, told The Observer: “I’m making on average £50 on a 10-hour shift. And we pay for our own cars, tax, fuel and insurance out of that. It works out less than £5 an hour. Ocado is treating us like dirt.”

The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain has lashed out at Ocado and called on the pureplay grocer to bring the drivers in-house. 

“These drivers are key workers who risked their lives during the pandemic delivering vital supplies for Ocado but are now seeing their pay slashed by a company that has seen profits skyrocket,” said Alex Marshall, the union’s president.

“They should be treated as the heroes they are. Ocado needs to take responsibility and bring these workers in-house.”

The union will send an open letter to Ocado this week accusing it of abandoning a predominantly ethnic minority workforce, and warning it will begin a public campaign against the grocer unless it abandons these practices. 

In a statement, Ocado said it was “deeply concerned” by the allegations, before going on to defend its business partner. 

“Ryde aim to pay 20% above the market average, well ahead of both minimum wage and the London living wage. Over 90% of Ryde drivers currently earn above the London living wage. Driver pay does vary depending on the acceptance and fulfillment of jobs and the average driver pay for Ryde users is currently £12 per hour, above the London living wage of £10.85 an hour,” said Ocado. 

“Ryde strongly refute that any drivers are being paid below minimum wage and are investigating the specific instances mentioned in the article.”