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Fairwork India’s sixth report examines the changing nature of platform work
The sixth annual Fairwork India report reveals the increasing control platform companies wield over when and for how long workers can provide services and discusses the potential impact of proposed legislation for platform workers in Karnataka and Jharkhand.
The report, “Fairwork India Ratings 2024: Labour Standards in the Platform Economy”, written by researchers from the Centre for IT and Public Policy (CITAPP), International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B), and the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, evaluates the conditions of work across 11 platforms in India. The research looks at location-based services in sectors such as domestic and personal care, logistics, food delivery, and transportation.
“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. They wrote the report along with researchers Mounika Neerukonda, Bilahari M, Raktima Kalita, Tony Mathew, Meghashree Balaraj, Aditya Singh, Alessio Bertolini and Mark Graham.
Key Findings
This latest Fairwork India Report scores 11 platforms: Amazon Flex, bigbasket, BluSmart, Flipkart, Ola, Porter, Swiggy, Uber, Urban Company, Zepto and Zomato. Each company was awarded a score out of 10 according to the Fairwork Principles: fair pay, fair conditions, fair contracts, fair management and fair representation. Each score was determined based on a combination of desk research, worker interviews conducted in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, and-when possible-evidence provided by the platforms.
Learn more about the Fairwork methodology here.
This year, no platform scored more than six out of the maximum of ten points. These were the key findings across each of the five Fairwork principles:
- FAIR PAY: Only bigbasket and Urban Company provided evidence of a minimum wage policy that guarantees that all their workers earn at least the hourly local minimum wage after factoring in work-related costs. No platform was able to evidence that all of their workers earn the local living wage after costs, so none were awarded the second point for Fair Pay.
- FAIR CONDITIONS: Amazon Flex, bigbasket, BluSmart, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto and Zomato were able to prove that they provide adequate safety equipment and periodic safety training to workers on their platforms. Only bigbasket, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto and Zomato evidenced that their companies provide workers with accident insurance coverage at no additional cost, monetary compensation for income loss in cases they are unable to work for medical reasons other than accidents, and ensuring a worker‟s standing is not negatively affected when they return after a break taken with prior notice to the platform, earning them a second point for Fair Conditions.
- FAIR CONTRACTS: Six out of 11 platforms were awarded the first point for Fair Contracts. bigbasket,
BluSmart, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto, and Zomato provided evidence that they ensure the accessibility and comprehensibility of their contracts, and have protocols for the protection and management of worker data. bigbasket, BluSmart,
Swiggy, Zepto, and Zomato, also evidenced the adoption of 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 and outages), the adoption of a Code of Conduct for their subcontractors, and making the variables influencing pricing transparent where
dynamic pricing is used. - FAIR MANAGEMENT: Amazon Flex, bigbasket, BluSmart, Flipkart, Swiggy, Urban Company and Zomato were awarded the first point for Fair Management for evidencing due process in decisions affecting workers and channels for workers to appeal disciplinary actions. There was sufficient evidence from BluSmart, Swiggy, Urban Company and Zomato of regular external audits to check for biases in their work allocation systems, in addition to policies against discrimination.
- FAIR REPRESENTATION: Representation through a collective body or trade union is a vital dimension of
fairness at work. It is disconcerting that despite the rise in platform worker
collectivisation across the country over the past six years, there was insufficient evidence from any platform to show a willingness to recognise a collective body of workers. Consequently, no platform could be awarded a point for this principle this year.