Opinion | Gig economy is failing workers and needs urgent reform
The mass exploitation of those in temporary work only underscores the need for better protection
In the recently released Chinese film Upstream, middle-aged lead Gao Zhilei, played by Xu Zheng, signs up as a food delivery driver to support his family after losing his white-collar job.
Platform companies take on people willing to deliver a service, call them “independent contractors”, assign them jobs, and pay them for the services they deliver – after deducting a commission.
It sounds simple – a source of income with flexible working hours. But it isn’t, as Upstream’s hero found out. Gao faces cutthroat competition, very long working hours and is forced to put himself at risk on the road to achieve insane delivery targets just to make ends meet.
In India, some gig workers have had to pay to be taken on as independent contractors, and for mandatory training. A 2022 survey by the All India Gig Workers Union noted that promised jobs were often assigned at odd hours – even after midnight – and labelled “missed” the next morning.
Sometimes workers were given more jobs than they could feasibly do in a day. Items they had to buy, such as bags and uniforms, were more expensive and of poorer quality than their open market counterparts. And, for all that, they earned less than a third of the government-prescribed minimum wage.
