India: gig economy workers demand to be recognised as employees

In recent weeks a public interest litigation was filed with the Supreme Court of India on behalf of workers in the so-called “gig economy”. The legal action was filed, among others, at the end of last month by the Indian Federation of App-based Transport workers (IFAT). This organisation, which brings together trade unions in ten Indian cities and represents more than 20,000 people, is calling for gig economy workers to be covered by social security in the future.
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In India, an estimated 5 to 15 million people are in jobs in the gig economy. Most of them work for ride-hailing platforms such as Uber and its Indian rival Ola, but many also work for meal delivery giants such as Zomato and Swiggy. In three to four years, the gig economy could account for 24 million jobs in India, according to a joint report from Boston Consulting Group and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

An employee-employer relationship. The legal action filed with the Supreme Court main

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