'Promised flexibility, living with fear now': Women gig workers protest

More than 100 gig workers, mostly women, staged a protest at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday, demanding recognition as employees and alleging arbitrary blocking of accounts, low earnings, and lack of basic labour protection on digital platforms. The demonstration was organised by the Gig and Platform Services Workers Union (GPSIWU), a women-led body, which said similar protests were being staged in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan as well.

By early afternoon, Sunita, who works with a home services platform in Punjabi Bagh, said she already lost nearly Rs 900 in daily income by joining the protest. Sunita said she was drawn to gig work after being promised flexible hours and stable earnings, but she now lives with the constant fear of her account being blocked. "In the beginning, there were many bookings. They said I could manage my family. Now my ID is blocked without any explanation," she alleged. Another protester said she worked with the same company for almost four years before her account was suspended in 2022. Her husband died a few months later, leaving her struggling to find steady work.

After briefly working as a cook for Rs 15,000 a month, she lost that job too when the employer's family moved out of Delhi. Several women at the site covered their faces, saying they feared retaliation if they were identified by the platforms. Many alleged that despite long working hours, deductions and mandatory charges left them with little take-home pay. Sunita said she recently received a booking worth Rs 2,295, from which Rs 431 was deducted as commission and Rs 970 as "compulsory credit recharge". "If we don't pay the credit amount, bookings stop coming.