Alibaba's Ele.me food delivery platform extends welfare coverage to 3 million couriers with collective contract


South China Morning Post
Sun, July 16, 2023


Alibaba Group Holding-backed Chinese food delivery service Ele.me has committed to bring more social security and welfare benefits to its roughly 3 million couriers, following a similar move by JD.com in March to include its flexibly employed logistics workers in the firm's social welfare program.

The company held a meeting in Shanghai on Thursday, with 175 delegates approving and signing a collective contract and three specific contracts covering issues including wages, female employees and occupational health and safety, according to a report by state media Workers' Daily.

The contracts state that the basic delivery fee should tie in with factors such as the local consumer price index, delivery distance, and weather, to ensure couriers receive adequate compensation. Ele.me will also increase the roll-out of its smart helmet designed to safeguard riders and "stipulate a reasonable delivery time" for the orders, according to the report.

The signing of the contracts, witnessed by officials from the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, is expected to provide the 3 million couriers for China's second-largest food service platform with a wide range of social welfare benefits usually beyond the reach of the country's growing flexible workforce.

China has over 200 million flexible workers, defined as those without fixed-term contracts, many of whom work for the digital platforms of the country's Big Tech firms, such as Alibaba's Taobao marketplace, Meituan's food delivery service, and Didi's driver platform.

These workers are not covered by social security benefits, a situation that has long raised the ire of local governments in China.

In January 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission (NRDC) published a document on facilitating the healthy growth of the Big Tech platforms, where it made a call to increase "the rights and interests" of the flexibly employed.

Ele.me's decision to offer social welfare to its large pool of workers is likely to put pressure on Meituan, its main rival and the country's largest food delivery platform, which as of last year had more than 6 million food couriers on its books.

"Providing benefits for flexible workers by way of collective contracts is a practical approach. It's an important and meaningful step [towards offering them more security]," said Leo Yu Xin, a Beijing-based legal counsel at Jingtiangong Cheng Law Firm.

The move by Ele.me came two day after the Chinese government, in a reversal of its years of hostility towards the country's internet platforms, lauded those same platforms for helping technology development and economic growth.

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