A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court today praying for social security benefits for gig employees working for companies such as Ola, Uber, Swiggy and Zomato. It also asks that the court acknowledges that these companies have breached the rights of their gig workers by restricting the manner in which they utilize their platforms.
The petition was submitted through the Indian Federation of App-based Transportation Workers, a worker's union that advocates for the rights of gig-workers working for companies such as Ola, Uber, Swiggy and Zomato as well as other companies.
The union in the petition claims that they fall within what is known as "unorganised people" in India's unorganised Worker Social Welfare Security Act 2008 . They are therefore entitled to social security benefits. Since this hasn't been the case in the past the union feels "exploited".
"Denial the social insurance benefits to those referred to as "gig workers" as well as the "platform worker" has led to the exploitation of these workers through forced labor in accordance with Section 23 of our Constitution. The right to live is the ability to earn a living under fair and decent conditions of employment," the plea said.
Workers who work as gigs in India have complained for years about their uncertain earnings and a poor base wage and an algorithm is said to force them to travel hundreds of kilometers every day for very little cash. All this with little or none social security benefits, like gig workers around the world.
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In the year 2000, India enacted the Code on Social Security, 2020 that promises to increase benefits from social security to those who work, but is not yet in place.
It also said that platforms have total control over how users are able to use their apps, even claiming that the relationship is only supposed to consist between "partners".
"The simple fact that employers label their own "aggregators" and have entered into"partnership" agreements, doesn't negate the reality that there is an official relationship between employer and employee, master and servant as well as worker in the sense of the law," the petition said.
The petition has been resolved with the Senior Advocates Indira Jaising as well as Gayatri Sing. The petition was filed by Advocate-on-Record Nupur Kumar.
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