Self-employed, Petty works,
Waste pickers navigate through the landscape of waste generation, segregation, and recycling, playing a crucial role in mitigating the environmental impact of our consumption patterns. On World Environment Day this year, the global community – including governments, NGOs, and environmental activists – is rallying around a critical imperative: land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience. https://thewire.in/environment/why-waster-pickers-contribution-to-urban-waste-management-needs-to-be-recognised
Waste pickers are the backbone of urban waste management – segregating and recycling waste to significantly reduce the burden on landfills, mitigation pollution and keeping the city clean.
While waste pickers’ earnings may be modest, their contributions yield significant savings for the city in terms of waste management costs. On an average, a waste picker collects about 60–90 kg of waste per day, working for about 8–10 hours (CSE, 2021). Their contributions are vital in reducing municipal costs and promoting economic efficiency. Recycling materials such as plastic, paper, glass, and metal reduces the need for raw material extraction and manufacturing processes, which are often resource-intensive and costly. By reintroducing these materials into the production cycle, waste pickers facilitate resource conservation and promote a more sustainable and circular economy.
As we celebrate World Environment Day, let us pledge to elevate the status of waste pickers, recognise their vital role in protecting the environment, and work towards building a more sustainable and inclusive future for all.
by Shalini Sinha and Rituraj Pegu
06/06/2024
According to a NITI Aayog recent report titled ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy’ https://countercurrents.org/2022/07/the-challenges-of-gig-economy/ India’s gig workforce, estimated to be at 77 lakh in 2020-21. It is expected to go up to 2.35 crore by 2029-30. Gig worker are defined by Niti Aayog as those engaged in livelihoods outside the traditional employer-employee arrangement. Gig workers can be broadly classified into platform and non-platform-based workers. Platform workers are those whose work is based on online software apps or digital platforms such as Ola and Uber. Non-platform gig workers are generally casual wage workers and own account workers in the conventional sectors, working part-time or full time. A gig economy is a free market system that provides short term contracts to independent workers.
The major potential problem is that gig workers are not in tune with the legal definition of employees. Every state has its own definition, but it mainly depends upon the degree of control that the company has over the worker. It is difficult for an individual worker to afford the cost of legal proceedings. This makes gig workers more vulnerable to settlement, even when they have a good legal claim.
The NITI Aayog report also emphasizes the corpus fund for any unclaimed economic situation which leads to job loss of the gig workers.A platform, in order to support auto-rickshaw, cab, and taxi drivers to mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 lockdown on their income, created a corpus of INR 20 Cr, called the “Drive the Driver Fund.” Measures such as offering a social security cover out of a corpus fund can help support gig workers and other self-employed individuals associated with the sector in case of contingencies.
by Ashish Singh
22/07/2022
NYC Set to Pass Food Delivery App Laws Securing Workers Minimum Pay, Bathrooms and More
September 23, 2021 https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/09/nyc-set-to-pass-food-delivery-app-laws-securing-workers-minimum-pay-bathrooms-and-more.html
The new package of six bills would allow food couriers access to restaurant bathrooms, put limits on how far they can be asked to deliver, set minimum payments per trip and ensure that tips get to workers. “The basic human dignity of delivery workers, many of whom are immigrants, has been ignored for too long across the country,” said Johnson in a statement. “New York City is taking the lead in transforming this industry with a legislative package that will give deliveristas the rights they deserve.”
Comment: It appears the “self employed” category is being misused.
You are not an independent contractor if you perform services that can be controlled by an employer (what will be done and how it will be done). This applies even if you are given freedom of action. What matters is that the employer has the legal right to control the details of how the services are performed.
How is it that delivery drivers self employed when their every trip ((what will be done and how it will be done) is dictated by their “employer.”
Hands that Deliver Food are Struggling to Feed Themselves Samriddhi Sakunia September 5, 2021 https://janataweekly.org/hands-that-deliver-food-are-struggling-to-feed-themselves/ On September 23, 2020, to cover the gig workers and an attempt to give them some sense of social security, the Lok Sabha passed the Code on Social Security. The Union government has yet to notify the bill and has not issued any directions to the states. The draft rules for the Code includes benefits such as a disability cover, accident insurance, health and maternity benefits, and companies’ contribution to a social security fund.
Despite the codes defining a gig worker as an employee who earns a living outside of a “traditional employer-employee relationship” and providing them social security benefits—income security and health insurance—the condition of employees of online food platforms, like Zomato and Swiggy, hasn’t changed. Besides, the codes also permit an employer to hire and fire employees.
Since the codes have still not been implemented, their exploitation has increased with the restaurant business taking a devastating hit during the pandemic. Besides, the delivery executives have also been impacted by the change in remuneration models of food delivery companies
https://act.jhatkaa.org/campaigns/pay-delivery-partners
Swiggy and Zomato have time and again stated that they have healthy work practices like facilitating the workers to log in and log off when they wish to. However, workers have reported that hey are loaded with pressures like 'login shifts', mandatory peak-time logins, weekend work, and a very strict cap on order cancellations. Let’s get together and call out the this facade created by these giants.
Because they are branded as “partners”, they do not benefit from the labour rights like minimum wages. However, the Union Budget 2020-21 is introducing a reform for e-commerce and ride-hailing firms. It has immense potential to make things better for blue-collar jobs. Since the laws are still under formation, it is a good time to ask the Finance Ministry and Ministry of Corporate Affairs to look into the matter.
India’s gig economy workers to get social security for the first time
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/budget-2021-indias-gig-economy-workers-to-get-social-security-for-the-first-time/articleshow/80633561.cms Feb 26, 2021
We are slaves to them’: Zomato, Swiggy delivery workers speak up against unfair practices https://www.newslaundry.com/2021/08/14/we-are-slaves-to-them-zomato-swiggy-delivery-workers-speak-up-against-unfair-practices
They are battling job insecurity, variable pay, low base pay, increasing fuel prices, and inconsistency in incentive payments.
ByTanishka Sodhi 14 Aug, 2021
Over the last two weeks, Zomato and Swiggy delivery workers have been taking to social media to speak up against the alleged exploitative practices of the two companies. The protest was a long time coming.
How Swiggy threatened to “suspend” protesting Delhi workers after second pay cut in seven months https://caravanmagazine.in/news/swiggy-pay-cut-delhi-worker-delivery-protests-aigwu
Nishant Kauntia 27 August 2020
Swiggy strike is a reminder that service aggregators care little for workers’ rights https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/09/02/swiggy-strike-is-a-reminder-that-service-aggregators-care-little-for-workers-rights
Companies will always resist paying fair wages and benefits to gig workers. They must be legally compelled to do so. ByVinay Aravind 02 Sep, 2020
The aggregators have introduced innovative services that have undeniably improved for consumers the experience of availing these services. Using smartphones and widespread connectivity, they have transformed how people use services such as taxis and food delivery. However, this has taken place in an unregulated environment where the workers are entirely at the mercy of the companies.
For instance, the aggregators can and do frequently make changes to how they compensate their workers, often to their disadvantage.
As they do elsewhere, the aggregators in India have painstakingly designed their relationships with their workers to skirt any benefits and protections afforded them by the legal system. They are designated “partners”. Their contracts are typically framed such that the workers use the aggregator’s technology as a service and, in return, pay the aggregator a chunk of the money they get from their customers.