Karnataka gig workers bill does not offer adequate employment rights, say unions

A new draft Karnataka government bill designed to provide employment and social security protections for the state’s platform-based gig workers fails to properly address issues such as adequate wages, safeguards against dismissal and suitable working conditions, claim unions.

On 29 June, the Karnataka government published the draft Karnataka Platform-based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill 2024, which seeks to provide employment, social security and welfare measures for gig workers contracted to app-based platforms like the delivery and taxi companies Zomato, Swiggy and Uber. The bill aims to improve workers’ rights and conditions through measures such as the establishment of a welfare board to oversee the working conditions of platform-based workers and provide a grievance redressal mechanism for workers.

The bill also proposes measures to prevent aggregators or app platforms from illegally dismissing workers and to ensure greater transparency in the automated monitoring and decision-making systems used by the platforms when penalising workers for issues around work performance and customer satisfaction ratings.

The proposed welfare board will consist of the Karnataka Labour Minister, four government officials, two officials from aggregators, two representatives of gig workers and a state-nominated civil society member.

The board will ensure that all gig workers and aggregators are automatically registered with it, generate a unique ID for every platform worker and maintain a database of all app-based gig workers and aggregators operating in Karnataka state. Once registered, workers will also be advised of their social security rights and protections.

However, according to The News Minute media outlet, the United Food Delivery Partners Union (UFDPU) has severely criticised the bill, calling for various changes to better protect the health, safety, working conditions and employment rights of gig workers in Karnataka.

In particular, the UFDPU says the Karnataka government needs to ensure that the wages received by gig workers comply with the minimum wages set out in the Minimum Wages Act 1948, and that overtime wages are paid at double the normal wage rate. Although the bill would require aggregators to give 14 days’ notice before terminating a worker’s contract, the union says workers should be given a greater opportunity or defend themselves in such cases.

According to The News Minute, the UFDPU also says the number of representatives from gig workers and aggregators on the welfare board should be increased from two each to five each to provide workers with a greater say in decision-making. It also argues that the timetable for aggregators to provide the welfare board with a database of all gig workers registered with them should be reduced to within 30 days of the commencement of the Act, and the welfare board should be required to electronically register all gig workers’ details provided by aggregators within 15 days of them being hired.

In 2023, the Karnataka government announces plans to provide all gig workers with free life insurance and accident insurance each worth Rs 2 lakh, and the UFDPU says that once enacted, this scheme should be overseen by the new welfare board.

The UFDPU also says the bill should be amended to ensure that labour officers are appointed in
every district to act as grievance redressal offices for gig workers and to require restaurants to allow gig workers to use their toilet facilities when collecting orders, as this is often prohibited, reports The News Minute.

Meanwhile, a number of Karnataka-based campaigning organisations – as well as the Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT) and Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy ­– submitted separate suggested improvements to the bill to the Karnataka government.

The joint submission, which was made by 16 organisations and individuals, called for the inclusion of platform workers representatives, including women, on the Gig Workers Tripartite Welfare Board. The submission also says platform-based gig workers should be automatically registered with the welfare board as soon as they begin work for any online platform, irrespective of how long they are engaged in the platform. In this way, they can be granted a unique ID number and be informed about social security benefits and gain access to the board’s grievance addressal mechanism for gig workers.

IFAT also wrote to the state labour department demanding changes to some of the legal definitions contained in the bill.

IFAT requested that the word ‘digital’ should be added before the word ‘platform’ to accurately define an app-based gig worker. IFAT also recommended the inclusion of “any other digital platform-based service provider” as an additional category in Schedule-1 of the bill.

The bill defines ‘gig worker’ as “a person who performs work or participates in a work arrangement that results in a given rate of payment, based on terms and conditions laid down in such contract and includes all piece-rate work, and whose work is sourced through a platform, in the services specified in the Schedule-1”.

The ITAF also asked the Karnataka government to request that the central government include ‘digital platform-based gig workers’ and ‘aggregators’ in the definitions of ‘workmen’ or ‘employee’ and ‘employer’ respectively, under relevant provisions of the Industrial Dispute Act 1947, and the Industrial Relations (IR) Code 2020.

Adv. Udaykumar Ambonkar, IFAT’s national general secretary, said that without these changes gig workers will be prevented from using the conciliation routes under these laws, as mentioned in Section 24(4) of the Karnataka Bill.

The draft Karnataka bill comes a year after Rajasthan introduced the first-ever legislation in India regulating the employment and social security rights and conditions of gig and platform workers in India.

The Rajasthan legislation will also establish a welfare board, consisting of state officials and representatives from gig workers, aggregators and civil society, responsible for ensuring that all gig workers and aggregators are automatically registered with it, generating a unique ID for every platform worker and maintaining a database of all app-based gig workers and aggregators operating in Rajasthan.

The welfare board will also offer a grievance redressal mechanism for gig workers, ensure workers are informed about the benefits of social security and undertake regular consultations with trade unions who work with platform workers. The plan will also see the establishment of a dedicated social security fund for platform-based gig workers in Rajasthan, funded by a levy on each customer transaction on digital platforms like Ola and Zomato.