Fairwork India Ratings 2022: Labour Standards in the Platform Economy

This report was published by the Fairwork India team, led by the Centre for IT and Public Policy (CITAPP) at the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore. It rates the working conditions of 12 digital labour platforms in India – Urban Company, bigbasket, Flipkart, Swiggy, Zomato, Zepto, Amazon Flex, Porter, Dunzo, Ola, PharmEasy, and Uber.  The report evaluates platforms against a 10-point score system based on the principles of “Fair Pay, Fair Conditions, Fair Contracts, Fair Management, Fair Representation”. It engages with the theme of flexibility and how it impacts working for digital labour platforms. While workers have highlighted the need of a stable income, the report states, platforms have been hesitant to commit to and practice a minimum wage policy. The report also suggests improvements in policy.   The report interviewed 348 workers in Bangalore, Delhi, and Kochi. It also includes evidence provided by the platforms based on surveys and interviews with platform management. This 44-page document is divided into 15 sections: Executive Summary (Section 1); Key Findings (Section 2); Editorial: Flexibility for Whom? (Section 3); The Fairwork Project: Towards Decent Labour Standards in the Platform Economy (Section 4); The Fairwork Framework (Section 5); Background: The “booming” platform economy in India? (Section 6); The Legal and Policy Context: Debating Worker Status (Section 7); Fairwork India Scores 2022 (Section 8); Changes in Focus (Section 9); Workers’ Stories (Section 10); Themes in Focus: Flexibility (Section 11); Pathways to change (Section 12); The Fairwork Pledge (Section 13); and Appendix: the Fairwork Scoring System (Section 13); Endnotes (Section 14); Credits and Funding (Section 15).