Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Nov 27: Gig and platform workers across India will hold coordinated nationwide demonstrations on Friday, demanding fair pay, social security, and stronger workplace protections. Worker unions say the current app-based system exposes them to insecurity, low earnings, and unchecked algorithmic control.

Unions are also calling for an end to ID blocking, arbitrary penalties, and AI-driven surveillance practices that they say worsen exploitation. Protests in Maharashtra are scheduled in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Parbhani, Amravati, Kolhapur, Jalna, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

In Thane, gig workers and small traders—who argue that e-commerce platforms have damaged local businesses—will submit their demands to the district collector, said Dr. Laxman Mane, general secretary of the Gig Workers Union and the Platform App-based and Other Commerce Workers Union.

“In Mumbai, a bike rally will kick off at 9.30 a.m. from Swadeshi Market to the Bombay Exchange,” Mane said. “A delegation will then meet officials at the Chief Minister’s office to present our memorandum.” A central law regulating platform work and a tripartite regulatory board are among their main demands.

Parallel demonstrations are expected in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and other states.

Thousands of workers associated with major platforms—Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Zomato, Ola, Uber, Rapido, BluSmart, and Urban Company—are anticipated to take part in what unions describe as one of their largest coordinated actions to date.