The gig economy in India is a complex dichotomy, a source of flexible income for millions, yet their protection is absent and collective action by gig workers remains challenging due to their dispersed nature and ambiguous legal status.
The rise of the gig economy has reshaped the landscape of work, and its involvement in the labour market through freelancing and on-demand services facilitated by digital platforms offering flexible and new income streams with a fluid, project-based workforce, leading to new dynamics in the industrial relations framework, particularly concerning collective actions and workers’ protection. However, the fundamental premise of the gig work classifying individuals as “independent contractors” rather than employees, creates a complex dynamic for industrial relations, often leaving workers’ rights and benefits associated with traditional employment.
Challenges to Collective Action
- Legal Battles: This ambiguity has resulted in high-profile lawsuits and legal challenges globally, seeking to classify gig workers as employees, as they are largely classified as “independent contractor” which excludes them from the employee- employer relationship and from the protection of traditional labour laws that...
