Ola, Uber, Dunzo, and Porter continued to be the worst-performing startups on Fairwork India’s ratings for gig platforms, which rates the tech platforms based on the working conditions of their gig workers.

The Fairwork India team published the report, ‘Fairwork India Ratings 2023’, in which it assessed the platforms on five principles – fair pay, fair conditions, fair contracts, fair management, and fair representation. The analysis was drawn from desk research, worker interviews conducted in Bengaluru, Delhi, Kochi, and Thiruvananthapuram, and evaluation of the evidence provided by the 12 platforms. 

The platforms could get a maximum of two points on each of the five principles, with the second point awarded only if the first point was fulfilled.

While Dunzo and Uber scored only one point out of 10 on fair contracts and fair conditions, respectively, Ola and Porter got zero points. 

Besides Uber, the first point on fair conditions was awarded to Amazon Flex, BigBasket, BluSmart, Flipkart, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto, and Zomato as the research found that these platforms mitigated task-specific risks by providing workers with adequate safety equipment and periodic safety training. 

On the other hand, BigBasket, BluSmart, Dunzo, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto, and Zomato were the only tech platforms to be awarded the first point under fair contracts for taking steps to improve accessibility through multilingual contracts that were clear and readily available to workers.  

Meanwhile, Amazon Flex scored two out of 10 points on fair conditions and fair management, and Flipkart scored three, with an extra point awarded on fair pay over Amazon Flex.

The first point under fair pay ensures workers earn at least the local minimum wage after work-related costs, the research report said. Besides Flipkart, Urban Company and BigBasket were the only two other companies awarded the first point under fair pay.

Overall, BigBasket scored the highest six points, followed by BluSmart with five points. 

While BigBasket scored both the points under fair conditions and fair contracts, BluSmart received both the points under fair contracts and fair management.

On the other hand, Swiggy scored both the points under fair conditions and fair management.

The findings also become more crucial as they come at a time when the gig economy in the country is rapidly expanding. However, there have been several strikes by the workers of various gig platforms demanding fair pay and other benefits.

Recently, gig workers, including drivers of cab aggregators and delivery workers, held a strike in Pune and Mumbai. 

Urban Company, which scored five out of 10 in Fairwork’s ratings for 2023, has also seen multiple protests by its gig workers after the startup banned the IDs of several beauticians on its platform earlier this year.

Delivery partners of Zomato and Swiggy have also initiated multiple strikes across the country in the recent past.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan government announced setting up an INR 200 Cr welfare fund and enactment of the Gig Workers Welfare Act earlier this year to provide social security to these workers. 

Fairwork said in its report, “2023 was a milestone year for platform workers in India: foremost, the Leaders’ Declaration at the 18th G20 summit… called for ensuring ‘adequate social protection and decent working conditions for gig and platform workers’.”

The report called the passage of the Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Act, 2023 a prominent event and also highlighted the Karnataka government’s announcement for providing accident and health insurances to workers of gig platforms. 

Amid another protest by the delivery workers of Swiggy in Mumbai recently, Shaik Salauddin, the national general secretary of the Indian Federation of App Based Transport Workers, said that the union has called for a “Social Security Bill” for the 4.8 Lakh gig and platform workers in Mumbai, including those working for Ola, Uber, Rapido, Porter, Dunzo, and BigBasket.