Story so far: The recent strike by Zomato-owned Blinkit delivery agents has once again brought to the forefront the issues plaguing the gig economy in the country and the reforms required to stop the exploitation of such workers.
The strikes began when Blinkit rolled out its new payout structure for delivery executives, under which the minimum payout per delivery was slashed to Rs 15 per delivery from Rs 25. The revised structure also bases incentives on the distance covered to execute the order— a policy commonly known as ‘effort’ based pay. As a result, Blinkit delivery executives are now set to earn Rs 600-700 a day as opposed to Rs 1,200 before.
A 2022 report by NITI Aayog estimates that nearly 23.5 million workers will be engaged in the gig economy by 2029. However, since the gig economy falls outside the scope of traditional, full-time employment, gig workers are usually not afforded basic employment rights such as minimum wages, overtime pay, medical leave, and a statutorily bound resolution of employer-employee disputes.
