The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Centre, Ola, Uber, Zomato and Swiggy on a PIL by gig workers seeking social security from food delivery apps and cab aggregators. The 2-judge bench of Justice LN Rao and Justice BR Gavai will now hear the plea in January 2022, which has been filed by the Indian Federation of App Based Transport Workers (IFAT) and 2 gig workers Tulasi Jagdish Babu and Kaushar Khan.
The PIL wants cash transfers of Rs. 1175 per day for app-based drivers and Rs. 675 per day for others till December 31 or till the pandemic subsides, and wants recognition of all app-based workers as unorganised workers as per Unorganised Workers’ Social Welfare Security Act 2008. The PIL claims the Uber, Ola, Swiggy and Zomato give contracts of the nature of “take it or leave it”, and seeks Health insurance, pension, disability allowance and maternity benefits for all gig workers. Citing a UK court order which had classified Uber drivers as “workers”, the petitioners have accused apps and big companies of exercising full supervision and control over their manner and method of work.
Having been defined in the labour code for the 1st time, over 2 crore gig workers have already been registered on the Central Government’s E-Shram portal. However, gig workers are outside the ambit of Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 and The Employment Compensation Act, 1923. Technically, a gig worker engaged with a company can also work with another company as none of the contract binds him/her
IFAT has claimed that commissions to app-based delivery personnel have declined from around Rs. 50 per delivery to Rs. 20 per delivery, with an equally gruesome picture for cab drivers. It has also questioned the revised daily targets for gig workers, which claims are practically impossible for riders to claim daily bonuses of Rs. 500 or above. Stating that the pinch of absence of social security is hitting even harder with reducing commissions, IFAT has complained that rising daily delivery targets often deny a delivery bonus to the gig workers, leave alone an opportunity or time to work with another delivery app side-by-side.
