Malta’s Bolt Food Couriers Set To Go On Strike
Up to 300 Bolt Food couriers are set to go on strike on Friday 29th July over massive decreases in their earnings and other disputes with the food courier company.
Lovin Malta is informed that the drivers will start the strike early on Friday and will be demanding a change to their pay structure and for the company to stop aggressively employing more drivers in what’s quickly becoming an oversaturated industry.
The newsroom is also informed that drivers will remain offline and will not reopen their app for the entire Friday.
It is unclear the exact amount of couriers that will strike, but it is informed it could be up to 300, if not more.
Issues at Bolt Food and other couriers are well known and have been under the spotlight since 2021 following revelations that hundreds of third-country nationals are being employed by fleets that take at least half of their income.
Meanwhile, Bolt Food has routinely slashed fees paid to couriers by reducing their peak-time bonuses by an average of more than 50%.
Earlier this year, the food courier, taxi and e-scooter company Bolt announced it parted ways with local company TXF Tech.
Bolt has since started to operate in Malta independently with the aim of strengthening its position as a market leader in Malta and “make the market more competitive and introduce its global procedures and processes on the island”.
However, it appears that the same problems have continued with drivers regularly raising concerns over the earnings they generate with the company, which reportedly continue to be slashed.
Some have reported having lost between 30 and 50% of their salary as a result of the manner in which they were engaged to work.
The government has long pledged to address the issues surrounding platform workers. However, nothing has ever materialised in Malta with the EU now looking into the issue.
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