Blinkit protests: For gig workers, there is no income security – and little legal recourse

Incentive-driven payout structures have “gamified” platform work, such that workers are forced to compete for an increasing number of tasks within compressed periods with the promise of bonus pay. These structures are constantly shifting, with workers complaining that companies reduce their task allocations so they are unable to meet their incentives. This level of volatility and uncertainty is a hallmark of taxi and delivery platforms. It shakes any sense of knowing how a person can run their household, and pay for maintenance of bikes, internet and phone costs.

This volatility is encoded onto the platform since these businesses are run on a delicate balance of demand and supply. Blinkit’s job as a platform is to bring in “dark stores” (warehouses for products to be delivered after being ordered online) in line with what consumers want, to get consumers to order through Blinkit, and keep delivery agents around to fulfil those orders. This is why platforms call themselves intermediaries, or say they orchestrate demand and supply. This is the logic they use in reducing incomes. If a platform reduces incomes, fewer delivery agents are likely to sign on for the day, and the fewer people they have to pay. The job can immediately and instantly go. Platform business models thrive on the state of underemployment in urban India, with over 73 million young workers looking for work in cities. Platform work offers a route to survival for these young workers who migrate to metro cities for jobs, often with high levels of education and few other employment opportunities in the formal economy. In the long term, jobs in the platform economy have proven to be comparable to other jobs in the informal economy, offering low pay with little income security for workers.

Delivery agents and platforms communicate with each other through push notifications on the company app, SMS, or IVR calls, which have pre-recorded messages. Interaction with a human manager, or representative of the company is rare, causing delivery agents to have no one to reach out to when they feel unfairly treated. Platform workers globally have resorted to organised strikes, protests and public demonstrations, and even legal action to make their voices heard. Platforms do not react well to such protests—Blinkit arbitrarily shut down workers’ accounts with a message that they had been instigating protests, while Urban Company, another platform company, filed a legal suit against workers for participating in protests last year. These actions are in blatant contradiction to platforms’ claims that workers are self-employed and have complete flexibility and autonomy over their work. Little protection is available for delivery agents — the new Code on Social Security offers the chance of social security to workers but no assurances on wages, or legal recourse at moments when things go bad.

Surie works at Indian Institute for Human Settlements. Tandon is a non-resident fellow, Centre for Internet and Society