The weight they carry: How gig workers navigate their lives with many challenges

So many of us breathed a sigh of relief on May Day glad to put up our feet and enjoy the midweek holiday And how many went on apps to call for a massage at home or grocery and food deliveries with no thought as to why the workers providing these services were working on a day that pays tribute to the labour forceAanam Khan name changed a massage therapist with a popular home service app carries a 25kg foldable bed along with an 8kg backpack with her wherever she goes PicKirti Surve ParadeIndia currently has one crore gig workers which is expected to rise to 235 crore by 202930 according to a NITI Aayog report released in November 2024 Despite this massive number the country is yet to legally recognise them as ldquolabourrdquo Without the protection this tag offers them gig workers carry the heavy burden of exploitationWhen Anjali Kelkar a managing partner at Magpie Brand Solutions booked a massage therapy session through a popular professional home services app she expected quick relief from her stress Then the masseuse turned up in tears Turns out Kelkarrsquos ldquohealerrdquo needed healing tooMany gig workers have reportedly demanded a break during peak summer hours due to the heat wave but to no effect PicsGetty ImagesPrisha name changed the masseuse had recently been diagnosed with a hernia which she says was caused by lifting the portable massage bed and the heavy bag she carried around mdash a total of over 30 kg Feeling guilty Kelkar urged Prisha to cancel the session but the masseuse carried on despite her discomfort fearing that her ratings might take a hitKelkar posted about the incident on social media which drew public attention and got hundreds of comments and nearly 8000 likes ldquoIsnrsquot it inhumane to design a performance system that sets professionals up to fail Shouldnrsquot they have the right to decline a job when there is a valid reasonrdquo asks KelkarUnfortunately most gig workers in India donrsquot have this right Cancelling a few appointments means getting blocked from on the appplatform for up to a month Sometimes there is no buffer period between bookings for them to catch their breath or a moment to grab a bite But of the many hardships a gig worker endures one of the most overlooked is the massive bags and machines they carry for nearly 1012 hours a dayA delivery partner with an ecommerce logistics company with a massive haulage bag The bags when full can weigh up to 40 kgTrue this is not just a gig economy issue mdash it affects many others in the unorganised sector including farm workers mandi labourers port workers coolies dabbawallas and mathadi workers among others But of all gig workers mdash the newest segment of the urban workforce mdash are growing at the fastest rate with a projected 135 per cent increase between 2021 and 2030 according to NITI Aayog Hence a focus on their rights could pave the way for broader labour reforms benefiting others in the unorganised sectorAanam Khan name changed a 33yearold Kurla resident is a masseuse with a popular professional home services platform She specialises in fullbody massage services as well as neck head and back massages She provides these services within a 10km radius from her home But for this she must lug around a 25kg foldable bed with her always ldquoThe portable bed which can be carried in a backpackrdquo she says ldquoprovides the right height and stability for the massagesrdquo But this isnrsquot the only burden she carries Her utility bag with items like massage oils sanitiser towels and bedsheets weighs another 8 kg Add to this her personal bag with her tiffin box and water bottle weighing another 3 kgActivists argue that when a worker puts in over 8 hours of work per day it cannot be called a lsquogigrsquo itrsquos fulltime jobWith 36 kg on her back the weight she carries is comparable to that of a paratrooper who hauls a 40kg backpack during special operations Khan would once take on up to five sessions a day navigating one of the cityrsquos most trafficclogged suburbs with a load that is around half her body weight ldquoBut for the last couple of years I have limited it only to a couple of sessions per day as it was taking a toll on my healthrdquo says Khan who has been in the profession for six years Extended periods of carrying this weight has left her with a radiating pain from her neck to her arm which now requires her to get regular massages for pain reliefNow Khan reserves fivesession days for weekends ldquoPeople call us after long exhausting weeks or months expecting a soothing massage I canrsquot disappoint them which means using every ounce of strength I haverdquo she says ldquoThe work is strenuous and drainingrdquo However when asked how long she can keep going she says ldquoEventually carrying this weight and applying so much pressure will wear my body down I come from a rural area in Karnataka so I am naturally fitter than city slickers But most of my peers have quit this job within three yearsrdquoAnjali Kelkar managing partner at Magpie Brand SolutionsRakesh Dattu Markar a former gig worker who worked in the cleaning department of a professional home services platform in Mumbai left the job due to a slipped disc caused by the weight of the vacuum cleaner and the heavy cleaning utility bag he carried around 20 kg in total He tells Sunday midday ldquoThere have been times when I had to carry the heavy bag and the vacuum cleaner to the sixth and seventh floors because the elevator wasnrsquot functional Old buildings have at least four floors and no lift Dread would set in whenever I saw that the job was in an old buildingrdquo He now works as a driver in PuneMarkarrsquos wife Suvarna and his sister Rupa also worked with platform services as masseuses Suvarna quit within three years after developing chronic neck and back pain while Rupa who worked as both a masseuse and a cleaner claimed she started getting periods twice a month due to the weight she carried and the strain her body endured dailyBorivlibased general physician Dr Rashmi Singh explains ldquoIn women prolonged strain from heavy lifting may cause menstrual irregularities such as oligomenorrhea or menorrhagiardquo Heavy lifting in general says Dr Singh can lead to a range of serious health issues ldquoIt includes neck and shoulder pain frozen shoulder cervical spondylosis lower back pain and compression of spinal nervesrdquo Over time she adds ldquoMuscle fatigue postural deformities scoliosis and intervertebral disc herniation or degeneration can also developrdquoVinod Shetty labour laws advocate and Madan SabnavisThe lifting technique matters a lot says Dr Singh However with no law overseeing the gig economy there are no limits on the weight workers can be asked to carry nor is there any mandatory requirement to train them on safe lifting techniques In India organised labour is safeguarded by several laws none of which apply to gig or platform workers However in a move similar to Rajasthan and Karnataka Maharashtra is also planning to propose an initiative to provide social security to labourers in the unorganised sectorIf gig workers were reclassified as employees rather than ldquopartnersrdquo companies would be required to provide minimum wages whereas the current model depends on booking quantity and hours worked social security and workplace protections mdash including weight limits and better health coverage for injuries Most importantly they would also gain legal recourse against unfair practicesMarkar recalls that when he last worked with a platform service in 2021 he had accident insurance coverage but it did not include the slipped disc condition he suffered from forcing him to pay out of pocket However nearly all major apps and platforms now provide accidental death and disability coverage varying in amountHuman rights and labour laws advocate Vinod Shetty says that unless the government brings all gig workers under labour laws there will never be any limitation on the weight they carry or the health risks they face He explains ldquoThey call workers lsquopartnersrsquo or lsquoassociatesrsquo to avoid employer liability But if a delivery partner develops a slipped disc from hauling 20 kg orders who is responsible The platform The restaurant The customer The law is silentrdquoWhen asked about organised resistance to such practices Shetty says ldquoDelhibased Gig and Platform Service Workers Union GIPSWU and the Gig Workers Association are building nationwide chapters But without legal recognition of their lsquoemployeersquo status unions canrsquot enforce change for any sort of working conditionrdquoWith the heat wave getting more intense many gig workers from a grocery app have reportedly demanded a break during peak summer hours mdash between noon and 4 pm mdash but their pleas have fallen on deaf earsA senior member of GIPSWU and the convener of the National Campaign Committee for Eradication of Bonded Labour NCCEBL Nirmal Gorana asks ldquoIf companies call them partners why canrsquot they distribute rights and wages equally as is done among partners by definition Partners at international firms make millions of dollars Why canrsquot these partners have basic rightsrdquoHe highlights that when a person works for over eight hours a day itrsquos not a ldquogigrdquo ldquoThat is a fulltime job with the platform or app A lsquogigrsquo is when someone works three to four hours and does something else in the meantime But most gig workers work anywhere between nine to 15 hours a day which makes them eligible for all the rights that a person with a whitecollar job hasrdquo says GoranaOn May Day when we spoke to Gorana the human rights activist reminded us ldquoBetween May 1 4 1886 over three lakh workers in the US went on strike nationwide demanding an eighthour workday better wages and improved working conditions It is ironic that even today gig workers are protesting across India yet nobody reports about them nor does the government listen If they fall sick or develop health conditions due to lugging that weight companies have no provision for their medical billsrdquoIn contrast courts across the European Union the UK and parts of the US have reclassified gig workers as employees in landmark rulings granting them minimum wage sick leave and pension rights Corporate economist and author Madan Sabnavis says gig workers quit in a few years due to many reasons including health hazards He says the worker bears all the risk from injuries to income volatility ldquolsquoPartnersrsquo with appsplatforms means no health coverage no accident liability and no minimum wage guarantees Moreover driving 40 deliveries daily isnrsquot a skill Itrsquos manual labour with an expiry daterdquoUpskilling as a gig worker may be a luxury when workers are too battered to even continue Workersrsquo bodies are seemingly a collateral in India Advocate Shetty says ldquoWithout laws gig work is a race to the bottom But unions and public pressure can force changerdquo But how many broken spines will it takeWhat about time offWhile a popular food delivery app offers its female delivery partners a twoday paid monthly period leave without requiring any explanation or documentation another famous app allows shorter leaves of two to three days However for the latter the delivery partners must inform backend support in advance failing to do so may result in their IDs being blocked from the platform Aanam Khan a masseuse we spoke to says she can only cancel three bookings in a month after which she gets blocked from the app for the entire month Her company recently relaxed its leave policy now allowing 28 days off per year as compared to the earlier1 CroreNo of gig workers in India235 crEstimated no of gig workers by 202930Source NITI AayogatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params