Bigbasket tops chart, Ola, Porter, Dunzo among others at bottom of fair working conditions for gig workers

While Ola and Porter drew a nil, Uber and Dunzo scored 1/10, while Amazon Flex and Flipkart scored 2/10 and 3/10, respectively.

The Fairwork India Team, spearheaded by the Centre for IT and Public Policy (CITAPP), International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B), in association with Oxford University, examined the work conditions of workers on digital labour platforms in India.

It evaluated 12 platforms offering location-based services in sectors such as domestic and personal care, logistics, food delivery and transportation in India.

Interestingly, in its first year of participation in the Fairwork ratings, BluSmart scored higher than more established platforms in the ride-hailing sector, with 5 points out of 10.

Thus, there is room for cautious optimism that BluSmart’s operational model might represent a step towards better conditions for drivers in the platform economy.

According to the report, Bigbasket, Flipkart, and Urban Company were the only platforms with a minimum wage policy to ensure that all their workers earn at least the hourly local minimum wage after factoring in work-related costs.

No platform scored the second point of the Fair Pay principle, which requires them to provide sufficient evidence that workers earn at least the local living wage after work-related costs.

Amazon Flex, Bigbasket, BluSmart, Flipkart, Swiggy, Urban Company, Uber, Zepto and Zomato were awarded the first point under the Fair Conditions principle for providing adequate safety equipment and periodic safety training to their workers.

Only Bigbasket, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto and Zomato were awarded the second point for providing workers with accident insurance coverage at no additional cost, monetary compensation for income loss in cases where they were unable to work due to medical reasons other than accidents and for ensuring workers’ standing was not negatively affected when they returned after a break taken with prior notification given to the platform.

As for the Fair Contracts, seven out of the 12 platforms were awarded the first point for the Fair Contracts principle. Bigbasket, BluSmart,Dunzo, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto and Zomato were awarded this point for ensuring accessibility and comprehensibility of their contracts and for having a protocol for data protection and management of worker data.

Bigbasket, BluSmart, Urban Company, Zepto, and Zomato met the requirements for the second point under Fair Contracts by adopting a changed notification clause in their contracts, reducing asymmetries in liability (such as by a provision to compensate workers for losses due to app malfunctions), adopting a code of conduct for their subcontractors and making the variables of pricing transparent where dynamic pricing was used.

Amazon Flex, Bigbasket, BluSmart, Flipkart, Swiggy and Zomato were awarded the first point for the Fair Management principle for providing due process in decisions affecting workers and channels for workers to appeal disciplinary actions.

There was sufficient evidence only from BluSmart and Swiggy to meet the second point for the principle. They institutionalised the conduct of regular, external audits to check for biases in their work allocation systems, in addition to adopting policies against the discrimination of platform workers.