New Year celebrations across India may face disruptions as gig workers associated with major platforms like Swiggy, Zomato, Blinkit, Zepto, Flipkart, BigBasket, and Amazon have announced a nationwide strike on December 31. The protest, called just hours before New Year’s Eve, is expected to affect food, grocery, and online deliveries, which usually see peak demand during celebrations.
The strike has been called to protest declining earnings, lack of social security, and the growing pressure of unsafe “10-minute delivery” models. Gig worker unions say these ultra-fast delivery targets put delivery partners at serious risk of road accidents, while penalties for delays are imposed entirely on workers through algorithm-based systems.
The Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT) has submitted a 10-point charter of demands to the central government. Key demands include a minimum monthly income of ₹24,000 for delivery partners, ₹20 per kilometre for ride-hailing drivers, and legal recognition of gig workers as “employees” instead of “partners” so they fall under labour laws.
Other demands include health and accident insurance, an eight-hour work limit, an end to arbitrary ID blocking, transparency in algorithms, and a cap of 20 percent on platform commissions. Unions have urged Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to intervene, alleging that companies are prioritising profits over worker safety.
