TN gig workers’ welfare hits aggregator roadblock, sees below 1% enrolment

CHENNAI: Despite the State government’s grand announcement of Rs 20,000 subsidy for 2,000 gig workers annually to purchase a new electric vehicle, along with a few other aids, less than one per cent of them have registered with the Tamil Nadu Platform-based Gig Workers Welfare Board.

Introduced in this year’s budget, the scheme has not received the sort of welcome expected for the 16-month-old welfare board.

The State has over five lakh gig workers, including around 2.5 lakh in Chennai. So far, fewer than 7,000 gig workers have registered with the welfare board, which was established in December 2023. The turn out accounts for 0.7% of all individuals engaged in internet-based service work.

Despite the labour department’s outreach efforts, including the organisation of camps at major hubs in Chennai and other cities in recent months, the enrolment hasn’t seen a positive trend. Authorities are under considerable pressure to accomplish the task of enrolment, as the initiative was one of CM Stalin’s flagship programmes.

Labour Commissioner S A Raman held five to six meetings in the last couple of months with aggregators and gig workers, appealing to them to cooperate with the enrolment drive. However, aggregators have, so far, been reluctant to share workforce data, prompting the Commissioner to openly express his strong dissatisfaction during the recent meeting a month ago.

“Only 6,700 gig workers had enrolled up to a month ago in the State. The Commissioner expressed his displeasure during the tripartite meeting with aggregators and gig workers over the underwhelming response to the enrolment exercise,” said a source familiar with the developments.

Feeling betrayed by the lack of recognition as “workers” under an established employer–employee relationship that guarantee them labour rights and social security, the office bearers of Tamil Nadu Food and Allied Products Delivery Workers Union have also shown little or no interest in participating in the enrolment drive.

“We are deprived of our rights and exploited to the core by employers. We have been urging the government to recognise us as workers and ensure statutory labour rights such as an eight-hour working day, overtime pay, and benefits like PF and ESI. But instead, the government announced a welfare board that does not secure these rights,” said a member of the gig workers’ union who attended the tripartite meetings.

The board remains largely inactive and has yet to implement any concrete welfare measures. It is yet to issue membership cards. “I submitted all the necessary documents to the officials six months ago, but there has been no response so far. None of us has received a membership card or any communication from the authorities. This has further discouraged workers like us from engaging with the board,” said N Murugan, a gig worker. Another worker, Chandrasekar, echoed the same. Neither Labour Minister CV Ganesan nor Labour Commissioner Raman was available for comments.