E-Paper
Punekars inconvenienced by gig workers’ strike
The one-day strike by delivery agents of food aggregators and ride-hailing service providers left Punekars inconvenienced
PUNE With drivers from Ola and Uber and delivery persons from Swiggy and Zomato calling a one-day strike on Wednesday, Punekars had to face a lot of inconvenience. Especially those travelling from and to Pune airport had to run from pillar to post in the absence of cabs to ferry them.
Vipul Alekar, a frequent flyer, said, “Today when my flight landed at Pune airport in the afternoon, I searched for cabs on the Ola and Uber apps. However, I could not book a cab for more than half-an-hour as there were no drivers available. Finally, I had to call a friend to pick me up.”
It was a similar situation for those trying to order food online. Meghna Jha from Katraj said, “As my relatives were coming to our place for lunch, I wanted to order some food online. However, as there were no delivery partners available online, we had to drop the plan.”
The one-day strike was called by the Indian Gig Workers’ Front for various demands in accordance with the central government’s ‘Social Code 2020’ labour code and the Rajasthan Government’s ‘Registration and Welfare Act’. Members of the association want the Maharashtra Government to pass similar guidelines to prevent the exploitation of gig workers.
Advocate Keshav Kshirsagar, a member of the Indian Gig Workers’ Front, said, “Our strike was 100% successful as none of the drivers and food delivery people went to work today. We gave our letter of demands to the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) and the Pune district collector.”
