Wednesday 15 February 2017

Uber and Ola Workers Strike! A discussion strengthened…!

The recent strike situation by the App based travel gig workers (Uber & Ola) in Delhi/NCR could throw much light into the on-going discussions relating to the employer-employee relationship status between the company (Uber, Ola) gig worker (workers on strike). While most of such discussions have taken place only in western countries, seldom was this topic discussed in India. The reason largely in my view being ‘there is huge unorganized sector workforce to whom the ‘terms of employment’ do not apply, and so the gig workers been classified in this large unorganized sector’.
On one hand the strike has proved problematic for the company, customers and the workers themselves to an extent, whereas on the other hand it has been a blessing for a few other stakeholders like the government authorities who can now breathe freely (literally) due to lesser traffic on roads and lower pollution levels estimated.
While to some extent the nature of relationship between gig worker and these companies could be established w.r.t payments in the form of wages, guidelines on bonus, guidelines on hours of work, etc. but the core relationship through a formal contract was never established between the company and the workmen till date thereby denying this segment of workforce ‘the gig-workers’ their share of social security benefits such as health insurances, provident funds, etc. The recent strikes could help elevate these discussions to a next level in strengthening the employer-employee bond. The current strike situation could also prove as a base reference points for the courts to create a sharper case to clearly call out a clear employee-employer bond basis the principles of collective bargaining which is formal machinery provided under law to negotiate (which currently is the situation happening)
One big blow in the face of these app based travel companies could come when the workers formally register a union and fight a case. It might be devastating to the business model, but in the larger interest of sounds employment practices, it’s probably the next step ahead. However as a Customer I do want this situation to settle soon, as a disguised Marxist I stand by the next generation workforce in establishing a formal employer-employee bond which bestows greater workers benefits to them, but as a HR professional, I would advise that the ‘gig worker’ model of business is not permanent state in the midst of developing workforce regulations in India and alternative models should soon emerge so as to support a profitable business. 
Further discussion to this view point can be read in the given link http://www.epi.org/publication/uber-business-model-does-not-justify-a-new-independent-worker-category/

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