Fairwork India report highlights absence of local living wage for gig workers, aggregators turning their back to collectivisation

The study evaluated 11 platforms offering location-based services in sectors such as domestic and personal care, logistics, food delivery, and transportation, in India. These include Amazon Flex, Bigbasket, BluSmart, Flipkart, Ola, Porter, Swiggy, Uber, Urban Company, Zepto and Zomato. 

The Fairwork India Ratings 2024 report, which analyses the work conditions of platform workers on digital labour platforms in India, draws a picture of aggregators who are non-committal to ensuring that workers earn the local living wage and unwilling to recognise collectivisation of workers.

This year, no platform scored more than six out of the maximum 10 points, and none scored all the first points across the five principles — Fair Pay, Fair Conditions, Fair Contracts, Fair Management, and Fair Representation.

The report titled ‘Fairwork India Ratings 2024: Labour Standards in the Platform Economy’ is the sixth consecutive annual study of this nature conducted by the Fairwork India Team, spearheaded by the Centre for IT and Public Policy (CITAPP), International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (IIIT-B), in association with Oxford University.

The 2024 report examines the changing nature of platform work as platforms increasingly take control of when and for how long workers can provide services, or gigs. It also discusses the potential impact of proposed legislation for platform workers in Karnataka and Jharkhand.

“This year witnessed gig workers’ welfare increasingly gain attention in political manifestos and legislative initiatives. But with the implementation of these efforts remaining uncertain, and platforms redefining gig work, research and advocacy to improve the conditions of gig workers are ever more relevant,” said Professors Balaji Parthasarathy and Janaki Srinivasan, the Principal Investigators of the team, along with researchers Mounika Neerukonda, Bilahari M, Raktima Kalita, Tony Mathew, Meghashree Balaraj and Aditya Singh.

Fairwork assessed platforms against five principles: Fair Pay, Fair Conditions, Fair Contracts, Fair Management, and Fair Representation. Each principle is broken down into two points: a first point, and a second point that can only be awarded if the first point has been fulfilled. Every platform receives a score out of 10.

Worker interviews were conducted in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, and Thiruvananthapuram.