It’s been 11 days since 5,000 Swiggy employees went on strike in Kerala’s Kochi demanding higher remuneration and labour benefits. Even as negotiations orchestrated by the district labour officials broke down, the online delivery platform insisted that it gives its workers “consistent and reliable income opportunities”.

But the workers aren’t buying it. 

“If I login to the app at 8 am and take orders until nine, the maximum I earn is Rs 900 of which Rs 400 goes for petrol,” said Basil Eldho, 27, who works part-time as a Swiggy delivery partner. “After running around for 14 or 15 hours, an employee earns just Rs 300-400.” 

Swiggy workers in Kochi are currently paid Rs 5 per km. They are demanding that this be increased to Rs 8 per km, given that orders have “come down” and the price of petrol has gone up.

This is even as one year has passed since a writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court, demanding security for app-based workers. The central government, which is listed as a respondent, has still not filed its affidavit in the matter.

Here’s how it all began.

Timeline of a struggle

The trouble in Kochi began in October.

On October 31, the Food Online Delivery Workers association, which is affiliated with the All India Trade Union Congress, wrote to Swiggy’s employment office in Kochi about “unfair employment conditions, payout structure and human rights violation”.

The letter had a series of demands for food delivery – base price set at Rs 35 for 2.5 km, a “late night surge” of Rs 30 – as well as separate demands for orders placed on Swiggy Instamart. It asked for weekly incentives, at least two days off a week, provident fund benefits, and a promise not to change payout structure without the permission of the workers. The letter also asked that Swiggy disable orders placed through third-party apps like Shadowfax.

On November 12, delivery partners met with company officials at the Swiggy office near Kochi’s Marine Drive. The meeting was attended by four officials from Swiggy, including an operations manager. Some demands were accepted – cancelling of orders on third-party apps like Shadowfax and Instamart orders would require a minimum of two items. But the major issue, that of increasing payments, was rejected.

The strike then began on November 14. Basil told Newslaundry the labour officer asked them to call it off. “How can a labour officer ask workers to end a strike?” he demanded. “It is our right.”

At around 11 pm that day, a meeting was organised by the district labour officer between the striking workers and Swiggy officials. “We asked for Rs 34 per 2.5 km,” said Basil, who was in attendance. “The labour officer agreed to Rs 30 for every four km. We agreed because all that mattered was an improvement in pay.”

But Swiggy rejected the proposal, and the strike continued. 

On November 17, about 300-400 Swiggy delivery partners held a rally at Marine Drive. On November 18, a second meeting took place between Swiggy officials and workers at the Ernakulam regional labour office. The workers asked for Rs 25 for every three km, Basil said, but Swiggy’s counter-offer was Rs 23 for every four km. The workers rejected the offer.

Swiggy’s counter-offer of “other incentives” – such as workers no longer being penalised for not wearing uniforms – instead of increasing their pay was rejected too. 

Vipin Vincent, the secretary of the FODW, told Newslaundry the strike will continue. “We have been serving the company for so long,” he said. “Delivery workers are now aware of their rights. So, we will fight till our rights are secured.”

On November 25, the workers submitted a letter to the Ernakulam district collector with a timeline of the strike. “Please accept the appeal,” the letter said, “and help us secure the demands we raised.” Basil told Newslaundry the labour office has called for another meeting on Monday.

Strikes and court appeals 

Service aggregators like Swiggy, Zomato, Uber and Ola have consistently been criticised for ignoring workers’ rights. Last year, delivery workers took to social media to speak up against exploitative practices by Zomato and Swiggy.

In 2021, the Fairwork Foundation, which rates working conditions for gig or app-based workers, gave Swiggy four points out of a maximum of 10 points for its labour standards. Swiggy scored one out of 10 in the same ratings in 2020. 

Strikes take place regularly, but they’re not always successful. 

“One of the longest strikes – 27 days – happened in Hyderabad,” said Shaik Salauddin, national general secretary of the Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers, or IFAT. “Even then, Swiggy never responded.”

Samson, who worked as a Swiggy delivery partner in Kerala for three years until 2018, told Newslaundry that until state and central governments “enact strict laws”, “legal protection for rights of employees in gig platforms like Swiggy will be a problem”.

On the efficacy of strikes, Samson said, “Strikes happen at least every six months. I was suspended from the Swiggy app for protesting. Later, the company offered a bonus of up to Rs 1,000 to rejoin. Strike is foolishness. I have gone till the end to fight but everything remains the same, even today.”

Basil and Samson told Newslaundry that “only a few mainstream channels” regularly report on strikes by platform workers. Samson added, “The mainstream media doesn’t have the guts to publish detailed reports on companies like Swiggy because of the fear of losing advertisements.”

To tackle these issues, IFAT filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court in September last year, arguing that gig workers with Swiggy, Zomato, Ola and Uber must be “declared wage workers” under the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act of 2008. The “failure of the state” to provide them with social security under existing law “is a violation of their rights”, the petition said, and “has resulted in their exploitation through forced labour”.

The Supreme Court issued notice to the union government and the four companies. None of the respondents have filed counter-affidavits yet. 

The petition reiterated many of the issues brought up by the striking workers. It alleged that during the first and second phases of the Covid pandemic, there was a “severe decrease of 80% of the average monthly income” of app-based transport workers. 

This situation, the petition said, was made worse by fuel prices, the burden of EMI payments, health issues, inability to pay medical expenses, harassment, absence of social protection, and “abdication of responsibility” by the companies. 

IFAT had also filed a report, supported by the Centre for Internet & Society, on the impact of Covid on these workers. For instance, from May 22 to 29, 2020, over 69 percent of the workers it surveyed reported no earnings at all, while only 20 percent earned between Rs 500 and Rs 1,500 per week.

Senior advocate Gayatri Singh, who is representing the platform workers in the case, told Newslaundry that companies must be “transparent” in their policies. 

“There should be call centres where drivers can complain,” she said, “and companies should pay compensation when accidents take place. Even during Covid, no proper medical attention was given to workers. Most of them couldn’t pay their loans and their vehicles got confiscated.”

Swiggy employee Jayakumar, who is originally from Gujarat, told Newslaundry this is how the company “plays with us”. “I have approached the labour courts several times,” he said. “But they couldn’t do anything because none of the platform companies are bound by the government. The company has numerous recruitments every year but it can hardly manage the partners already working for it.”

It should be noted that in April, before he was appointed Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud had said there is an urgent need to come up with a “distinct blueprint of legal measures to effectively improve the conditions of app-based workers”.