Jig’s up for the gig’s boss

Last week, delivery partners in Chennai affiliated to a restaurant aggregator went on a strike, to protest against new regulations implemented by the platform. Apart from having reduced the weekly incentives, the aggregator has also put in place a new salary slab that agents believe will lead to increased working hours. As per agents, fulfilling 180 orders a week, would require them to clock 26 orders a day, which would entail an 18-hour work day, coupled with 200 km of commute time. Delivery workers said this arrangement would put them at risk of rushing their deliveries. While their demands remained unmet, several agents resumed their duties subsequently.

The development highlights how workers in the gig economy run the risk of falling off the economic ladder, owing to business models that place partners in the bottom of the food chain. The gig workers, who make up for a large segment of the contract workers pool — involved in hourly or part-time jobs, work in activities that fall outside the ambit of traditional employer-employee relationships, like catering and deliveries.

To put this into context, recall how a few years ago, a video of a delivery agent had gone viral. In the video, he is seen partaking in meals he was meant to deliver. Netizens began calling for his removal from services, but level-headed observers argued if an agent is compelled to eat from a customer’s meal, one can only imagine the pay-cheque he/she might be drawing and how it might be inadequate to meet daily needs.

As per NITI Aayog, India’s gig workforce is expected to touch 23.5 mn workers by 2029-30, which implies a 200% jump from the current 7.7 mn workers. These workers will make up for 4.1% of India’s total workforce by the same period, from the prevailing 1.5%. It’s why many stakeholders have called for the creation of a separate Act to ensure social and economic benefits for such workers. The Act needs to be introduced in conjunction with the social security initiatives that have been provided for in the labour codes passed by the Parliament, and are yet to be implemented.

The code on social security mandates that aggregators provide between 1-2%of their turnover or 5% of the gig workers’ wages towards a social security fund. The reasoning behind the need for a separate Act for such workers is that gig workers have multiple employers and they are not bound by a durational clause. The labour codes currently do not address the pressing needs of gig workers in depth. Experts in the policy space have said that rather than implementing an all new Act, provisions can be made in the existing labour codes for part-time and gig workers to derive the benefits of PF and health insurance. This is especially pertinent when you consider that gig workers were practically not recognised before the implementation of the recent labour codes.

Once implemented, the codes on social security will enable the government to draft welfare initiatives for these workers, which could include aspects like life/disability/accident insurance, sick leave, maternity and health benefits and senior citizen incentives like pension. As per the code, the gig workers will need to register online to avail of these benefits. Long story short, gig workers need benefits that the average office goers take for granted — job security and timely, adequate wages, and benefits. It’s one way to inch towards a semblance of economic equity in India.