Saurabh Mukherjee
As discontent grows among India’s rapidly expanding gig workforce, app-based delivery and service workers have announced a nationwide strike on Wednesday (December 31) to press for a fixed monthly income, job security and basic workplace rights.
The protest, called by the Gig & Platform Service Workers Union (GIPSWU) and supported by several allied organisations, is aimed at replacing the existing commission-based payment model with a minimum salary of Rs 40,000 a month, along with leave and essential facilities at workplaces.
The union has asked its members to log out of their apps and stop taking assignments from the platforms they work with. GIPSWU general secretary Nirmal Gorana said gig workers were being systematically denied core labour rights, including minimum wages, safe and healthy working conditions and social security.
He said workers are frequently penalised or denied future work because of delays in reaching customers’ homes, and also face misbehaviour from clients.
“This strike unites gig workers and allies to demand immediate government intervention. We have requested the workers associated with our organisation not to work tomorrow. We have sought intervention from the Union government to address their issues,” Gorana said, The Telegraph reported.
He added that many platforms have introduced ultra-fast delivery models promising deliveries within 10 to 20 minutes, which are often unrealistic for workers to meet. When they fail to do so, their IDs are blocked, cutting them off from work. Gorana said this deadline-driven system must be scrapped.
Gig and platform workers continue to fall outside the legal definitions of both employees and workers, leaving them without the protection of labour laws that guarantee an eight-hour workday, overtime pay, insurance, leave, gratuity and pension. Even basic amenities are missing at many workplaces such as warehouses, which often lack restrooms and medical rooms.
The call for a strike has also generated widespread support online, with many users urging a one-day boycott of app-based services ahead of the New Year.
Prominent social media figures have voiced their solidarity, including Dhruv Rathi and Kunal Kamra.
On X, Dhruv Rathi said in video post, “Everyone knows the extreme conditions they work in and the algorithm determines their wages. They have to be under pressure to deliver within ten minutes and the algorithm fluctuates randomly. I request all of you to boycott all these apps on December 31 and not order anything so that we can put pressure on these apps and give gig workers their rights.”
Official estimates show the sector is set to grow sharply in the coming years. According to NITI Aayog, there were about 7.7 million gig workers in 2020–21, a number expected to rise to 23.5 crore by 2029–30. The survey found that 31 percent of gig workers are low-skilled, 47 percent are medium-skilled and 22 percent are highly skilled.
The strike has also been backed by the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IAFT), which said that worsening working conditions and repeated neglect of workers’ demands had left it with no choice.
Regional organisations from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi-NCR, West Bengal, Telangana and parts of Tamil Nadu have joined the protest.
The unions say delivery partners are being forced to work longer hours even as their earnings per order are steadily falling. They have also flagged the lack of insurance, unsafe conditions, arbitrary fines imposed by algorithms and the absence of job security. While companies refer to gig workers as “partners” and the backbone of India’s digital economy, the unions argue that in practice they are treated as disposable labour.
In a letter to Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, IAFT said it had earlier held a strike on December 25, in which around 40,000 workers participated and 50 to 60 percent of services were disrupted.
The union said the protest was meant to highlight the unsafe delivery model, declining incomes, arbitrary ID blocking and the lack of social security for gig workers.
The protest, called by the Gig & Platform Service Workers Union (GIPSWU) and supported by several allied organisations, is aimed at replacing the existing commission-based payment model with a minimum salary of Rs 40,000 a month, along with leave and essential facilities at workplaces.
The union has asked its members to log out of their apps and stop taking assignments from the platforms they work with. GIPSWU general secretary Nirmal Gorana said gig workers were being systematically denied core labour rights, including minimum wages, safe and healthy working conditions and social security.
He said workers are frequently penalised or denied future work because of delays in reaching customers’ homes, and also face misbehaviour from clients.
“This strike unites gig workers and allies to demand immediate government intervention. We have requested the workers associated with our organisation not to work tomorrow. We have sought intervention from the Union government to address their issues,” Gorana said, The Telegraph reported.
He added that many platforms have introduced ultra-fast delivery models promising deliveries within 10 to 20 minutes, which are often unrealistic for workers to meet. When they fail to do so, their IDs are blocked, cutting them off from work. Gorana said this deadline-driven system must be scrapped.
Gig and platform workers continue to fall outside the legal definitions of both employees and workers, leaving them without the protection of labour laws that guarantee an eight-hour workday, overtime pay, insurance, leave, gratuity and pension. Even basic amenities are missing at many workplaces such as warehouses, which often lack restrooms and medical rooms.
The call for a strike has also generated widespread support online, with many users urging a one-day boycott of app-based services ahead of the New Year.
Prominent social media figures have voiced their solidarity, including Dhruv Rathi and Kunal Kamra.
On X, Dhruv Rathi said in video post, “Everyone knows the extreme conditions they work in and the algorithm determines their wages. They have to be under pressure to deliver within ten minutes and the algorithm fluctuates randomly. I request all of you to boycott all these apps on December 31 and not order anything so that we can put pressure on these apps and give gig workers their rights.”
❌Boycott all these apps for 1 Day tomorrow!
— Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) December 30, 2025
Stand in solidarity with Gig Workers! pic.twitter.com/JQvWyoB7hG
Official estimates show the sector is set to grow sharply in the coming years. According to NITI Aayog, there were about 7.7 million gig workers in 2020–21, a number expected to rise to 23.5 crore by 2029–30. The survey found that 31 percent of gig workers are low-skilled, 47 percent are medium-skilled and 22 percent are highly skilled.
The strike has also been backed by the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IAFT), which said that worsening working conditions and repeated neglect of workers’ demands had left it with no choice.
Regional organisations from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi-NCR, West Bengal, Telangana and parts of Tamil Nadu have joined the protest.
The unions say delivery partners are being forced to work longer hours even as their earnings per order are steadily falling. They have also flagged the lack of insurance, unsafe conditions, arbitrary fines imposed by algorithms and the absence of job security. While companies refer to gig workers as “partners” and the backbone of India’s digital economy, the unions argue that in practice they are treated as disposable labour.
In a letter to Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, IAFT said it had earlier held a strike on December 25, in which around 40,000 workers participated and 50 to 60 percent of services were disrupted.
The union said the protest was meant to highlight the unsafe delivery model, declining incomes, arbitrary ID blocking and the lack of social security for gig workers.
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