Amazon Flex, Flipkart, Porter, Uber, Ola and others emerged as key under-performers, failing to meet basic criteria for fair pay, contract transparency, and worker representation for gig workers, according to Fairwork India Report 2024.
The report evaluates 11 platforms offering location-based services in sectors such as domestic and personal care, logistics, food delivery, and transportation, in India.
Despite a rise in the gig economy, several companies drastically underperforming on fair labour standards highlighted the report.
Tata-owned BigBasket topped this year’s Fairwork India index, however no platform scored more than six out of the maximum of 10 points, and none scored all the first points across the five principles.
The report noted that only bigbasket and Urban Company are instituting a minimum wage policy that guaranteed all their workers earn at least the hourly local minimum wage after factoring in work-related costs.
Amazon Flex, bigbasket, BluSmart, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto and Zomato were awarded the first point under fair conditions for providing adequate safety equipment and periodic safety training to workers on their platforms, the report added.
Amazon Flex, bigbasket, BluSmart, Flipkart, Swiggy, Urban Company and Zomato were awarded the first point for Fair Management for providing due process in decisions affecting workers and channels for workers to appeal disciplinary actions, showed the report.
“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.