Online Delivery Workers(Gig Workers)

(Relevant for Sociology Optional for Civil Services Examination)

Paper 1: Unit-6 Work and Economic Life: Formal  and Informal Organization of Work

Online Delivery Workers Data

• A NITI Aayog study estimated that in 2020−21, 77 lakh workers were engaged in the gig economy. The gig workforce is expected to expand to 2.35 crore workers by 2029−30. 
• In 2019−20, 10 lakh people were working as delivery executives. Out of these, women constituted 67,900 workers till June 2019.

Sociological analysis about the condition of Gig worker Upadhya and Vasavi: The global economic restructuring and deepening policy of liberalisation in the post-Fordist regime has created the new workplace and the new worker in India. This new model of neo-liberal economic structure is more open, informal, flat, has flexible organisational structure and work culture, characterised by despatialisation where economic processes lose their fixed spatial attachments, disembodiment and mobility of labour Aneesh: This has resulted in the “liquefaction of labour,” where labour is becoming more trans nationalised . Beck:  Flexibilisation of labour and global informational economy have been identified as key features of work and employment Benner: Such flexible employment arrangements have transformed work, creating longer working hours and double shifts, eroding job security, and leading to a process of individualisation. Garson, Thompson, Warhurs: The extensive use of information technology has enabled managements to exert greater control over labour through panoptical forms of surveillance and monitoring . Reid et al: Moreover, a recent study identified six emotional crisis that workers often undergo, which includes: Remaining financially viable without a predictable salary Managing the logistics of work without administrative and infrastructural supports Crafting a clear work identity without any officially assigned roles Navigating an uncertain career path without predictable career options offered by companies and industries Coping with emotional turbulence occasioned by highs and lows of working independently Adjusting work relationships without a stable set of regular colleagues. Woodcock and Graham: Moreover, an increasingly precarious nature of delivery work is also intensified by the loss of dignity, lack of financial security and the opportunities for progress in a career.  According to Nair gig workers easily fall into the role of passive victims subject to the machinations of technology corporates. Informal sector reduces laborers into just commodities and machines, and therefore, they are completely being alienated. Stanford:  Gig employment growth is replete with the challenges of nature and quality of these jobs, as this growth has brought in the structural changes that further strive away from standard employment relationships as well as legal protections and expect these modern workers to function as “independent and atomised workers.” Cramer and Krueger: Platform economy promotes flexibility and assures autonomy to the workers. Hewison and Kalleberg: In the case of the developing countries in Asia, precarious work has been the norm where being locked into precarious work and fewer better opportunities for work are also seen as a loss. Dhar: In India, globalisation and fragmentation of supply chains coupled with technology has led to an ever-growing platform economy that is leveraging on the large pool of unorganised workers in an informal urban sphere of labour. Graham Rosenblat and Stark: Workers’ subordinated agency is embedded within the platform’s reputation, rating, and task allocation mechanism. Hence, the categorisation of workers as self employed has come to be termed as “fake “or “bogus” self-employment. Langille: In the legal context, employment contract becomes a “platform” that decides the workers’ status and establishes the entitlements and benefits extended to them. Burchell: The rise in flexible working, temporary and short-term contracts, zero-hours working and part-time work have all been seen as contributing to increasing job insecurity which has been rising. Guy Standing: suggests that a new class grouping is emerging a ‘class in the making’ which he calls the precariat. This group consists of those who are unable to gain access to the labour markets which offer secure employment and decent wages. It includes older people, unskilled workers, young people with few qualifications, and all of those who regularly move into and out or work.  Other keywords that can be used: Burgeoning gig workforce, modern debt bondage, Asymmetry of Information, Resurging working class consciousness, Gender-based subordination

Work Conditions

• On contract paper, food delivery platforms term the delivery workers as “independent contractors” or “delivery partners.” This kind of classification, compounded by the lack of legal security and conceptual ambiguity, is forcing such workers to work almost 12 hours or more per day and on less than prescribed minimum wage. Hence, they are not considered as traditional “employees.” Consequently, these workers do not benefit from labour rights as guaranteed in the labour laws of the country.
• The Fair Work India Ratings (2022) speak of the declining earnings and deteriorating working conditions of delivery labourers. The report has evaluated and rated the working conditions of 12 food delivery platforms in India. Of these, Swiggy and Zomato were found to have a poor record.
• The rapidly burgeoning gig workforce is ushering in a new economic revolution, delivery workers face acute exploitation in many aspects. It commences from the phase of recruitment itself, wherein workers are burdened to incur all expenses of transportation facilities and gadgets without compensation at any stage of service. Moreover, all popular food delivery platforms charge `1,500−`2,000 as security deposit from each newly joining worker. Thus, delivery workers start their first working day with debt, resembling modern debt bondage.
• There are other major aspects of the delivery platform work that directly affects their well-being. The living and working conditions of delivery workers in India exemplify the fact that they are forced to compromise with their mental and physical health to eke out a barely sustainable wage
• Resurging working class consciousness: Delivery workers across India face acute exploitation and are deprived of basic labour rights, the recent struggle carried out by Zomato and Swiggy workers in Kerala resembles the resurging working class consciousness among them.
• Asymmetry of Information: These online platforms function on the basis of asymmetry of information which converts to unequal distribution of power between the delivery workers, customers and online food chains. Delivery workers do not know how they get orders, how their ratings drop and how the overall system works. Therefore, delivery workers are forced to work without possessing the right to information about their basic labour rights.

Women Delivery Workers

• Late and less entry of Women: Recruitment of women workforce had started in 2016, for the first time, in India. Though the number of women in the workforce has increased from 40,000 in 2018, it has not reached even one-third of the total workforce of delivery executives. Late and less entry of women workers as delivery partners indicates different variables associated with access to work and workplace outside their house.
• Gender-based subordination: The work of delivery partners demands certain basic requirements, for example, a motorcycle, scooter or bicycle with a driving license.

• • It is observed that all the women workers belong to economically downtrodden families. In that context, “getting permission” from the “family and society” to work in a public space can be a matter of concern for many women..
  • The working patterns of these food delivery partners are to make movements to different locations to collect and deliver food. In this process, access and use of hygienic washrooms and maintenance of menstrual hygiene becomes a few major concerns.
  • It is observed that women delivery partners are not given work after 6 pm to maintain their safety. According to Zomato, entry of women workers as delivery partners needs different sets of initiatives and working patterns. The concern regarding safety become another layer of gender-based subordination.
  • The flexibility of work time and income pattern is another significant issue shared by women workers.

Few Steps Taken

• New Labour Code and Delivery Workers

• • Labour laws pertaining to gig workers are covered only under the Code on Social Security, 2020. Section 2(35) in Chapter I of the code elucidates a gig worker as “a person who participates in a work arrangement and earns from such activities outside of a traditional employer–employee relationship.” Though the code precisely discerns the delivery workers from regular and non-employee classes of workers, it lacks clarity as to who exactly a gig worker is.
  • Section 2(26) in Chapter I of the Code on Social Security defines an “employee” as “a person employed on wages by an establishment, either directly or through a contractor to do any skilled, semi-skilled, unskilled or any other work, whether the terms of employment be expressed or implied.”
  • On a positive note, the code mandates provision of provident fund, gratuity, insurance employee compensation and maternity benefits.
  • It assigns the union and state governments to frame adequate social security schemes on matters relating to accident insurance, life and disability cover, old age protection, maternity benefits, etc.

• It puts an obligation on the delivery workers to contribute 1%−2% of their annual turnover into the Central State Funds which may be used for carrying out the welfare measures.
• Zomato mentioned four major initiatives taken by the company for the “safety” of the women delivery partners. It includes access to safety related education and tools, contactless deliveries by default, extended support from restaurant partners, safety handy emergency call button (SOS) and dedicated support to use washrooms in public spaces.
• The formation of All India Gig Workers Union has become a platform for the women delivery workers to make their voice heard by the authority.

   Way Forward:

• The need of the hour is to consider food delivery partners as labourers and they have to be brought under the purview of the organised and formal sector.
• There should be a legal and administrative framework to keep the aggregator companies under the purview of the labour laws in the country. Such efforts would compel the gig economy unicorns to categorise workers as full-time employees.
• Labour class consciousness among delivery workers in India would also play a pivotal role in strengthening their unity to fight pay cuts and other benefits.
• The recent resurging labour consciousness and strikes of Meituan delivery workers in China, Talabat food delivery workers in Dubai and online delivery workers in South Korea under the Parcel Delivery Workers’ Solidarity Union for better wage, better working conditions and social security provisions, can be seen as a catalyst factor in accelerating resistance of delivery workers in India against acute exploitative policies of online giant food delivery platforms.

Reference: Economic Political Weekly 

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META TAGS:

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