Indian food couriers were told it would cost them €5,000 to come and work in Malta and they would be paid more than €1,000 a month working 40-hour weeks.

But some of them ended up more than €8,000 out of pocket, and most don’t even manage a minimum wage while working 80-hour weeks.

A group of Indian former Bolt food couriers have shared their disillusionment after two years ago they were lured into thinking that becoming a food courier in Malta was an offer they could not refuse.

They were made to pay far more than they could afford, did not get the salary they were promised, and had to stay in a job with horrible working conditions because they could not afford to go back to their country to face their families. And no job in India was going to pay them enough to pay off the debts they had accumulated.

They decided to quit the food delivery business and have found other jobs, but they are still reeling from loans with banks, friends and family in India, who lent them upward of €8,000 with the hope that they would soon make enough money in Malta to repay them and live comfortably.

At least, 300 Bolt couriers staged an informal strike on Friday over declining pay, bonuses and work over the last few months.

Times of Malta has reported that many of them are paid a mere €2.10 per delivery and only manage to make around 10 deliveries per day working 11-hour days. They likened their working conditions to slavery.

While sporting Bolt and Wolt jackets and backpacks, most delivery drivers are not employed directly by either of the two food delivery platforms.

People from outside the EU are employed by a sub-contracted agency: the driver is paid by his agency which, in turn, is paid by Bolt and Wolt.

Lured by false promises

Three young men said the pandemic had cost them their jobs in India – as an accountant, an owner of a small grocery store and a salesman – and an advertisement for a courier job in Malta caught their attention around two years ago.

“Malta was advertised as a country where virtually everyone speaks English, you drive on the same side of the road like us, and it’s in the EU, a continent which, we were told, respects human dignity and protects workers’ rights,” one former courier said.

They had no reason to doubt Malta’s kindness, he said, so they applied to the agency in India that promised to take care of all that was required until they landed here.

“And the conditions seemed fantastic. We were given a contract that said we would get around €800 basic salary per month for a 40-hour work week, and that we would get bonuses and would be paid extra for working overtime and on public holidays.”

Compared to their salary at home, the contract was an offer they could not refuse.

And when, some months later, they were contacted to sign a second contract that promised them the basic monthly salary would go up to €1,024, they signed it even more enthusiastically.

The agency, however, informed them that processing fees in India and in Malta, including Identity Malta fees, would go up to a whopping €5,000.

They were told that once they start delivering food in Malta, they would likely begin to earn double the promised salary within four months, so they would pay off their debts and have enough money to live comfortably in no time.

The couriers were also told that Maltese people were very generous tippers.

“We were told every Maltese customer would tip us at least €2 upon delivery, and that would pile on to the already, extremely benevolent salary,” said one courier, grinning sarcastically.

“Would you like to know how many customers tipped me? Three or four out of every 100.”

Borrowing money to stay afloat

The former couriers said they started to borrow money while they were still in India and took out bank loans... some borrowed money from friends and family, promising to pay them back once they started to make their ‘fortune’.

They paid the Indian agency and were told the money was being transferred to the entities that were doing the work in Malta.

Upon their arrival, they then needed to rent a place to live.

“In my case, it was cheap. I only paid €150 monthly for rent,” one of them said.

“Because we were seven people in a two-bedroom apartment. Three of us slept in one room, another three slept in another and I slept on the sofa. I did that for seven months.”

When they eventually started working, they were getting €2.10 per delivery, were not paid for overtime or for working on Sundays and public holidays, they had no leave or sick leave and virtually had no benefits.

Last year, the Department for Industrial and Employment Relations carried out a study that confirmed couriers were working in dire conditions, were not paid enough and did not have enough time to rest.

A spokesperson for Recruitgiant, one of the largest recruitment agencies in Malta, has said it was the first courier fleet operator in Malta to adopt fair working conditions as recommended by the department.

“All new drivers are given a scooter, clothes, equipment and a helmet on their first day and we also cover their fuel and mobile phone costs,” the spokesperson said.

But agencies in Malta do not share many common practices, as the former couriers interviewed could attest to.

The cost of coming here

€300 for registering with the Indian agent;

€1,000 after they passed a video-call interview with the Maltese agency;

€1,000 when signing the first contract (they did not pay another fee when they signed the second contract);

€1,000 after they received a letter from Identity Malta informing them that their application had been successfully processed;

€2,000 when they had the visa stamped in passport;

€120 for passport process;

€2,000 for flights;

€50 for travel insurance;

€700 for 14-day quarantine in a hotel upon arrival (couriers who opted to stay alone in the hotel room paid €1,400); and

€300 for medical screening, vaccinations, doctors’ reports ad health insurance.

TOTAL: €8,470.