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Urban Company, for instance, has committed to onboarding an external auditor before October 31 to conduct audits of its payment calculation and reimbursements to bridge the gap, if any, in the monthly earning guarantee programme.It also plans to change itsrating system by removing unjustifiably low ratings and removing feedback from habitual low raters.
The Fairwork India Team, led by the Centre for IT and Public Policy (CITAPP), International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B), in association with Oxford University, assesses the working conditions of gig workers and ranks them on how they fare on five principles: Fair pay, fair conditions, fair contracts, fair management and fair representation. This year, the team surveyed 963 workers and evaluated 12 platforms against five Fairwork principles based on research, worker interviews conducted in Bengaluru, Delhi, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, and evidence provided by platforms.
However, this year, no platform scored more than six out of the ten points, and none scored all the points across the five principles. The report said Amazon Flex, Bigbasket, BluSmart, Flipkart, Swiggy, Urban Company, Uber, Zepto and Zomato were awarded a point under the fair conditions principle for providing adequate safety equipment and periodic safety training to their workers. However, when BluSmart was surveyed, they were present in Delhi and Bengaluru. Sources told TOI that they’ve onboarded drivers who’re paid salaries and they cannot be classified as gig workers.
Only Bigbasket, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto and Zomato were awarded the second point for providing workers with accident insurance coverage at no additional cost, monetary compensation for income loss in cases where they were unable to work due to medical reasons other than accidents, and for ensuring workers’ standing was not negatively affected when they returned after a break taken with prior notification given to the platform.
Seven out of 12 platforms were awarded a point for the fair contracts principle by adopting a change notification clause in their contracts, reducing asymmetries in liability (such as by a provision to compensate workers for losses due to app malfunctions), adopting a code of conduct for their subcontractors, and making the variables of pricing transparent where dynamic pricing was used. Bigbasket, BluSmart,Dunzo, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto and Zomato were awarded this point for ensuring the accessibility and comprehensibility of their contracts, and for having a protocol for data protection and management of worker data.
Interestingly, the report pointed out how the use of algorithms not only alienates workers from the labour process, but it alienates workers from other workers. Uncertainty about the influence of ratings on the platforms and not being able to contest decisions as platforms believe in “customer is always right” reinforces a sense of powerlessness and alienation.
However, the gig workers face steep challenges and abuse on the job. The legal landscape of the platform economy in India remains largely unchanged.
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