



Mint Explainer | Can gig workers form traditional trade unions?
As gig workers’ unions organized a strike on New Year’s Eve demanding better working conditions, several people took to X and other social media platforms to debate the value of gig work in India’s economy.Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal and InfoEdge founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani (also a Zomato investor) argued that gig work was valuable, pointing out that the strike had clearly failed. Others including Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha met gig workers on strike in Delhi, supporting their demands for better working conditions.Zomato's food delivery partners workforce grew 18% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) from FY22 to FY25.
In the first half of this fiscal year, it had 532,000 monthly active delivery partners, up 10% year on year, per a quarterly disclosure.There are about 12.7 million gig workers in India, according to Niti Aayog, a number that’s expected to rise to 23.5 million by 2029-30.However, gig workers are different from permanent workers or even contract labour, given that they can switch between employers (platforms) anytime. So how do Indian labour laws treat them and their representative bodies? Mint explains.An association representing workers in a specific field or of a company is generally registered under India’s Trade Union Act after applying to be formally recognized by a registrar of unions in a state or union territory.
India had more than 37,000 registered trade unions in 2022, according to the latest data available with the Labour Bureau.It also has 12 officially recognized central trade unions, and small unions often associate with these larger ones. Apart from setting the rules of registration, membership and financing, trade union laws offer registered union members protection from some
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