In real terms, these promises mean nothing. An identity card would not bring any benefit to workers unless it comes with some specifically declared provisions for the gig worker. Similarly, the benefits for unorganised sector workers exist only on paper and would hardly have any meaning for gig workers. Even the promise of medical insurance for gig workers seems to be a blank-shot as they would benefit from it only in case of serious illness and that too only up to five lakh rupees.

There is no move by the government to make it mandatory for platform companies to register these workers and contribute towards social security for them. The government has failed to listen to gig workers’ struggle for enforcement of a dedicated law and effective implementation of welfare schemes at the national level. Not half hearted steps but a national framework for gig workers is what is required.

The working conditions of increasing number of gig workers is very disturbing. Their incomes are very low, uncertain, do not operate under employer employee arrangement, and no mechanism exists to address their demands. They are a kind of bonded labour but the employer is invisible and inaccessible to them. It is the emergence of a new and effective exploitative system that has evolved under the gig economy.

General Secretary, All India Gig, Platform and App based Workers Union once portrayed the prevailing perilous working conditions of gig and platform based workers in the transport and food sectors. For the last 10 years, he said, their union has been fighting for legal rights of gig workers including cab drivers of Uber, Ola and Autos, for the improved labour terms and conditions while negotiating with both state and central governments, legitimate rights. He called upon all trade unions cutting across political parties to come on to a single united platform to fight with the governments demanding comprehensive and fair laws to guarantee gig workers their legitimate rights in the society.

Gig workers are today the harbinger of the society in transition. With fast digital transformation of the economy, on-demand platforms based on digital technology have become the source of employment differentiated from existing offline transactions by the level of accessibility, convenience and price competitiveness. These workers are kind of new slaves and masters are always inaccessible to them. It is the emergence of a novel economy with effective exploitative system that has evolved under the gig economy.

In the 2000s, the digital transformation of the economy and industry started evolving fast due to the development of information and communication technologies like the Internet and the popularization of smartphones. These platforms that are on demand based on digital technology have created jobs and employment forms that are differentiated from existing offline transactions by the level of accessibility, convenience and price competitiveness.

Normally “work” describes a full time jobs that have fixed working schedule, and also benefits. The work itself started changing theme wise and also action wise. As the economic situation kept changing, the definition of work began to change with changing economic conditions and continued technological advances. The labour is already different, characterized by independent and contractual labour and has occupied the entire scenario.

The use of computers became the way. Commercialisation has started to take place in the service industry. Those who were participating in the process started use of computing platform in order to aggregate transactions between clients and providers of a service, often bypassing the role of existing intermediaries as part of platform economy. The model of business has different operating costs compared to a traditional business.

A 2016 study concluded that, across America and England, there were a total of 162 million people that were involved in some type of independent work. Moreover, their payment is linked to the gigs they perform, which could be deliveries, rentals or other services.

The long time workers have long term employer–employee relationship in which the worker is paid by the hour or year, earning a wage or salary. Outside of that arrangement, work tends to be temporary or project-based workers are hired to complete a particular task or for certain period of time. Coordination of jobs through an on-demand company reduces entry and operating costs for providers and allows workers’ participation to be more transitory in gig markets.

Full-time gig workers leverage digital service-on-demand platforms and job matching apps to level up their skills. Another example of temporary workers may be digital nomads. Digital nomads have a mobile lifestyle combining work and leisure, requiring a particular set of skills and equipment. Gig work enables digital nomads by offering flexible, location-independent job opportunities that can be performed remotely, typically through digital platforms, allowing for a lifestyle of travel and work anywhere with internet connectivity.

It is important to distinguish employment in the sharing economy from employment through zero hour contracts, a term primarily used in the United Kingdom to refer a contract in which an employer is not obliged to provide any minimum number of working hours to an employee. Employment in the gig economy entails receiving compensation for one key performance indicator, which, for example, is defined as parcels delivered or taxi lifts conducted. Another feature is that employees can opt to refuse taking an order. Although employers do not have to guarantee employment or employees can also refuse to take an order under a zero-hour contract.

There is a specific type of labour typically task-based and invisible to the end user. It is called Ghost work. Work on discrete tasks for a company, but they do not have a relationship with the company beyond assignment of the task and the minimal training necessary. A key characteristic of ghost work is the completion of small tasks to assist in machine learning or automation.

According to a 2021 report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the expansion of the gig economy can be seen as one significant factor for the increase in worker deaths for those who work over 55 hours a week (relative to those who work 35–40), rising from 600,000 deaths in 2000 to 750,000 in 2016. The report found that in 2016, 9 percent of the world’s population worked more than 55 hours weekly, and this was more prevalent among men, as well as workers in the Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions. Work has also suggested poor mental health outcomes amongst gig workers. (IPA Service)