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When the pandemic emptied Baku’s restaurants and filled delivery apps with orders, courier Aykhan was earning up to 150 manats — roughly $88 — a day driving for Wolt and its rival Bolt, with a 35-manat bonus for completing a hundredth delivery in a single shift. “No one in the country was making more than we were,” he told Eurasianet, asking that his surname be withheld to avoid reprisals from Wolt.
That period is over. As Azerbaijan eased its pandemic restrictions and customers returned to shops and restaurants, Wolt cut its per-kilometre rate from 1.9 to 1.6 manats, did not restore a minimum payment for slow periods, and continued hiring drivers, spreading available work more thinly. Aykhan now says a driver working two platforms simultaneously across a ten-hour shift might take home around 50 manats ($29).
In April, Aykhan and a group of colleagues staged what is believed to be the first strike by gig workers in Azerbaijan. The action was small — only a fraction of Wolt’s drivers participated — and organisers concealed their identities to avoid dismissal. Wolt eventually agreed to raise rates during peak hours, but the new rates remained below pre-pandemic levels. Several couriers reported being fired for participating. “The company just showed that they ignored us,” Aykhan said.
In a statement to local media, a Wolt representative in Azerbaijan denied that any striking drivers had been dismissed and said rates were “based on current demand” and “remain at market level.” The company did not respond to Eurasianet’s request for comment.
Costs the company does not carry
Wolt drivers in Azerbaijan are classified as self-employed contractors, not employees. They pay their own income tax, a social protection tax, and health insurance — the last through a provider Wolt has contracted, which drivers are obliged to use. Aykhan said drivers distrust the coverage after hearing of work injuries that went uncompensated. Drivers must also purchase their own scooters and fuel. He estimated that a driver earning 1,000 manats a month would face roughly 260 manats ($153) in expenses, even after the initial scooter purchase.
The arrangement leaves workers with no minimum wage, no paid holidays, no sick leave, and no protection against arbitrary termination — vulnerabilities that Farid Rustamzade, founder of the Institute for Labor Rights Advocacy, says are structural rather than incidental. “With the standard service contract, couriers have fewer rights than they should. They should have the same rights as an employee, or at least their rights should be significantly broadened,” he said.
Economist Toghrul Valiyev described the dynamic as deliberate. “The gig economy has one problem: most of these companies do not make a profit,” he said. “They first lure workers with high daily incomes, then in subsequent stages they start to reduce those incomes — but because they don’t have work contracts, workers have two options: to stay or leave.” High unemployment in Azerbaijan makes it relatively easy for companies to replace those who leave, he added. “Workers need to understand that this will lead to more exploitation, because all the expenses and responsibilities will be on them. And that’s when these companies will start to turn a profit.”
A legal framework that has not kept pace
The couriers’ predicament sits within a broader pattern of weak labour enforcement. Rustamzade said employment without a contract, non-payment of salaries, forced overtime and non-compliance with regulations are pervasive across Azerbaijan’s economy. “During the pandemic, these problems became even more pronounced. Violating workers’ rights has become a social norm in society,” he said.
A 2015 law removed the State Labour Inspection Service’s power to investigate workplaces proactively; it now acts only on formal complaints filed by workers. But workers rarely complain, Rustamzade said, out of fear of losing their jobs. Court action is equally unlikely: “Workers often don’t go to court because they don’t believe their complaints will be investigated fairly, and they don’t have the financial resources to hire a lawyer.”
Attempts to strengthen the legal framework have stalled. When parliament drafted a new labour code in 2018, the Oil Workers’ Rights Protection Organization submitted proposals that were incorporated into the draft but never advanced to formal discussion, according to the organisation’s head, Mirvari Gahramanli. She attributed the blockage partly to the composition of parliament, where many members represent business interests, and noted that the Azerbaijan Trade Union Confederation — which claims over 1.1 million members — is led by a pro-government MP, Sattar Mohbaliyev.
The stakes are not abstract. The International Labour Organization has reported that Azerbaijan has the world’s highest rate of service-sector worker fatalities. The sector employs 49 percent of the country’s workforce. A recent rise in road accidents involving delivery drivers prompted the government to announce harsher penalties for scooter violations — a response that addresses driver behaviour rather than working conditions.
Solidarity that did not materialise
Aykhan attributed the strike’s limited impact to a collective-action problem familiar to gig workers worldwide. Most drivers declined to join, he said, reasoning that if they stopped working, others would take their orders. “The lack of self-confidence among the couriers” was the core reason the action failed, in his assessment.
Despite the outcome, the strike was not entirely isolated. This year has also seen labour protests at Azerbaijan’s state railway company, a major oil refinery and a state hospital, suggesting a modest uptick in worker action following the end of pandemic-era restrictions.
Aykhan has returned to delivering for Wolt and other platforms. “Everyone is keeping their head down and working,” he said. “They complain from time to time, but the situation isn’t changing.”