A survey conducted among more than 5,000 gig and platform workers across 32 cities in the country has found that 85% of them work above eight hours a day as drivers and riders and within that, 21% work sweat it out for more than 12 hours a day. A whopping 65% of women who responded to the survey said they felt unsafe in their jobs.
The survey conducted by Janpahal, a Delhi-based NGO, recommended that governments and regulators rename the gig, platform and e-commerce workers as “gig” is something taken up for a short period. “Permanent gig work is an oxymoron,” the survey report said adding that “e-commerce workers” will be a better nomenclature to address them because, without the last-mile delivery by a human being, e-commerce cannot function, at least as of today.
The report also recommended regulations to ensure that companies establish fair and transparent payment structures to protect gig workers from being underpaid or exploited by companies. “Considering the physically intense nature of this work, the number of hours that are ‘regular’ hours needs to be stipulated beyond which the platform must pay overtime,” the report said.
It also said that payment of a minimum wage to platform workers will help guarantee a fixed component in the income. Commenting on the instances of blocking the IDs of workers, such practices should not be allowed and IDs of workers cannot be indefinitely blocked.
The report asked platforms to address rising voices of income insufficiency and respond to worker demands such as reducing the amount of commission they charge per transaction or making separate payments for workers’ fuel bill, which keeps inflating as fuel prices rise.
Among the 5,220 respondents, 57% have been drivers or riders for two to five years, and 16% for more than five years. “Even in the majority age group of 22-30, which expectedly would have the maximum number of people who would treat it as a temporary job, 47% have been gig workers for more than two years,” the report said.
