Hyderabad: Telangana Gig and Platform Workers’ Union (TGPWU) on Saturday stated that the recent announcements of Deepinder Goyal, the founder of app-based food delivery service Zomato, are nothing but ploys to divert attention from their disregard for delivery workers’ rights in India.
The union issued a statement saying that the latest announcement from Goyal about a substantial investment into ‘Zomato Future Foundation’ was an “attempt to save the tarnished image of his public company, which recently also faced backlash for the rolling out of 10-minute deliveries.”
TGPWU said that it is difficult to trust Goyal’s intentions when his company is testing drone delivery in a bid to minimise employing human labour for deliveries.
“If Mr.Goyal is indeed so concerned about the children of his ‘partners’, how about ensure that every delivery worker, irrespective of the years spent at his company, is entitled to a living wage, does not overwork, has a social security net, and is covered under compensation laws when they suffer disability or death on the job?” they asked.
The union demanded that Zomato make public all the names of the delivery workers who have died on the job or suffered disabilities, along with the compensation provided to them. They also asked that the life insurance of the workers be raised from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 50 lakh for all partners.
“The children of delivery workers will be happier if you do not cheat their parents of the earnings,
and treat them like human beings deserving of dignity and rest,” the statement continued. They further said that companies like Zomato have shown “unparalleled innovation in evading legal protections for workers and finding means to continually steal from worker incomes.”
“Since you have already labelled your workers ‘partners’, how about you translate that into reality and allot them majority shares in your public company? Maybe that would be a better way to convince us that you care for your ‘partners’. It is, after all, their unpaid and underpaid labours which have created wealth for you and your company,” the statement read.
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