On March 14, employees of Wildberries in Yekaterinburg, Barnaul, and Blagoveshensk went on strike because of the marketplace's new policies. According to the new regulations, fined employees are required to work without pay until they have paid off their debt. Natalia, an employee from Belgorod, reported the strike to the 7x7 media.
Wildberries has recently begun to impose fines on employees for defective items returned by clients. As of March 13, every fined employee has to work without pay until they have covered their debt. Moreover, if an employee's debt exceeds their earnings, they will not be able to write off the remaining amount. Employees have been posting pictures of their substantial fines on social media.
The strike is set to take place on March 16, but some distribution locations, including one in Barnaul, have already closed as employees demand their salaries. According to Sibirmedia, some offices have even been barricaded with boxes to prevent visitors from entering. The strike began early in Yekaterinburg and Blagoveshchensk.
Natalia stated that they have all decided to take sick leave. According to her, fines are being unjustly imposed, and mistakes are being attributed arbitrarily. Employees' complaints are being ignored. Natalia stated that each shift she loses in fines from 1.5 to 5 thousand rubles ($20-65).
Wildberries' press service denies the strike and the closure of order and delivery offices. The company told Kommersant that the people who came to the main office in Moscow did not present any proof that they actually work for Wildberries to either the firm managers or the police.
The press service claims that although Telegram channels had sensationalized the issue by referring to it as a "riot", those people represent only 0.1% of the entire staff.
Between 2020 and 2022, Delivery Club couriers and Yandex.Food service workers went on strike in several Russian cities due to challenging working conditions. In the Kemerovo region, workers protested the introduction of penalties for lateness, a 2/2 schedule, and the lack of extra pay for working on holidays. Following the strike, the service withdrew its new demands, but the organizers of the strike were terminated.
In November 2022, Samokat couriers in Barnaul went on strike due to low wages and broken bikes. They demanded a raise in their hourly wages from 175 ($2.31) to 210 rubles ($2.77), extra pay for working in adverse weather conditions, and timely repair of their bikes.
