India: Gig workers fight for fair treatment and benefits

Raju Kumar works as a delivery worker for Zomato, a leading Indian online food ordering platform, in India's capital New Delhi.

The 27-year-old says he puts in close to 10 hours every day, navigating the city's traffic jams to deliver orders to customers' doorsteps. He is forced to race congested streets in a constant battle to complete the delivery on time, and is doing his best to avoid any complaints from customers.

Kumar earns about 700 to 900 rupees (€6.63-€8.52 or $7.75-$9.97) daily from the gig work.

"But there is no job security here," he told DW.

"All it requires is one customer complaint or a random ID block, and I am out without notice or savings," Kumar added, referring to a practice by platforms like Zomato and Uber where they cut off a worker's account. This could be motivated by a drop in customers' ratings or by employees violating company policy, but it could also be due to a simple glitch.

Kumar said his account was deactivated for a week last month due to an algorithmic issue, hurting his income and leaving him unable to pay his rent.

In the western Indian city of Mumbai, the country's business hub, 31-year-old Santosh Pawar is a gig worker employed by Blinkit, a firm focused on delivering groceries. He is also forced to race through the Indian metropolis to meet the company's ten-minute delivery deadlines.

Workers say these ten-minute deliveries pose personal safety risks. "Last month, I slipped on a waterlogged road and fractured my wrist. The platform offered nothing. There was neither compensation nor medical support… just a message asking when I would be back online," Pawar told DW.

He continued working despite the pain. "If I do not deliver, we don't eat," said Pawar.

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"Our future looks shaky and uncertain. There is no steady work, just endless hustle, and family worries," said Priya Sharma, a gig worker in the beauty services sector in New Delhi. "Every cancelled order chips away at our dreams. There is no safety net for tomorrow," she added.

So far, India gig economy is growing by absorbing surplus labor from agriculture and other informal sectors.

The NITI Aayog, a premier Indian government think tank, released a  policy brief in 2022 hailing the gig and platform economy as a vital job engine fueled by the rise of digital platforms, widespread use of smartphones and an increasing demand for flexible jobs, among other reasons.

It projects the gig workforce in the world's most populous nation to jump from 7.7 million in 2020-21 to about 23.5 million in 2029-30.

As the number of gig workers rises, anger and frustration are also mounting over work conditions.

Platforms, for instance, have the power to arbitrarily suspend accounts without explanation, cutting off workers' income. When gig employees fall sick or get injured on the job, there is often no insurance or paid leave.

This leaves workers bearing all the risks with platforms firmly in control.

Against this backdrop, some labor groups organized a strike on New Year's Eve, one of the busiest times of the year for deliveries.

They demanded a minimum monthly income for every gig worker, ranging between 24,000 and 40,000 rupees (€227 to €380), transparent payment systems, and an end to arbitrary account suspensions.

"Our mission is to challenge the perception of gig workers as merely temporary labor. Instead, we aim to bring them into a united labor movement where their work is recognized with dignity, and they are provided with equal opportunities in a safe and secure working environment," Sanjay Gaba, president of the All-India Gig and Platform Workers Union (AIGPWU), told DW.

The Indian government recently came up with new labor laws that mandate a national minimum wage as well as extend social security benefits to the unorganized sector and gig workers.

Prashant Swardekar, president of the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT), also urged the creation of a welfare fund to support gig workers.

"We want platforms contributing to a welfare fund that provides health insurance, accident coverage, pensions, and other protections that workers currently lack entirely," he told DW.

"We just saw a trailer on New Year's Eve. The fight begins now and we will press our demands in the coming weeks and months," Swardekar said, warning of more strikes to come.