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(*Names changed to protect identity)
For 36-year-old Radha from New Delhi's Karol Bagh home services platform Urban Company (UC) presented a unique opportunity to work as a freelance beautician in 2018 with its "flexibility" and "family-friendly policies". Four years later in December 2022, UC blocked her ID for failing to maintain a rating of 4.8 out of 5.
When 27-year-old Pooja, based out of Ghaziabad joined UC, she was told she could accept as many jobs she liked based on her convenience. In June 2023, while she was in her seventh month of pregnancy, her ID was blocked after her she cancelled four appointments in 30 days, due to health reasons.
Radha and Pooja are not the only workers to face this. On Wednesday, 11 October, around 50 UC workers – referred to as partners – staged a protest in Jantar Mantar over their alleged "exploitation" leading to job losses.
However, this is also not the first time UC has been at the centre of protests.
Despite repeated protests, not much has changed for UC partners.
Since its inception in 2014, UC was one of the handful gig work platforms where skilled women could find work. According to the app-based platform, one-third of the 45,000 contract workers employed are women, most of whom are engaged in beauty-related services.
A 2020 study titled 'India’s Emerging Gig Economy: The Future of Women Workers' says the majority of UC's beauty workers are non-migrant, married women with children, looking for flexible work conditions.
While partners The Quint spoke to said they were offered an initial salary of Rs 40,000, they soon realised that the wages were subject to fluctuation.
While Classic and Prime partners must maintain a minimum rating of 4.7 out of 5, Luxe partners require a rating of 4.8.
Partners told The Quint that the standards are nearly impossible to meet – and most often – are beyond their control.
42-year-old Seema, a mother of two is now anxious about paying her children's school fees. Since she was blocked in May 2023, her family has been struggling to make ends meet. She joined in 2018 and made around 35,000 rupees a month.
Radha alleged that 'a partner is often penalised for mistakes made by clients.'
But not all IDs are blocked permanently. Partners claimed that their IDs have been blocked 2-3 times in the last four years, but have also been unblocked a few months after.
27-year-old Pooja, and her husband Kumar, a massage therapist at UC, were blocked by the platform in April 2023. Pooja told The Quint that despite pleading with the company and showing her medical records, her ID was blocked.
After multiple visits to the office, it was unblocked in August 2023.
Another partner Geetika said in the last four years, her ID has been blocked three times. "Sometimes, we get clients who are far away from where we are. When we cancel those appointments, we get blocked," she told The Quint.
Instead of blocking their IDs, partners believed that workers must at least get a chance to rectify an errors. The uncertain ID blockings have led to a sense of uncertainty and fear about their future.
When The Quint reached out to Urban Company on 12 October, they declined to comment on the allegations raised.
The company reiterated its stance on the issue based on a statement it released post the 12 July protests. "We recently asked a few partners who were not meeting the marketplace standards despite multiple prior notices and re-trainings, to part ways with the marketplace... As a company focused on quality and customer experience, it is our responsibility to ensure that both sides of the marketplace have a good experience," the statement added.
ID blocking is not the only problem these partners face.
In 2021, UC introduced a Minimum Guarantee (MG) plan where partners had to sign up and pay a subscription fee starting from Rs 2,000 in return for jobs/leads that will be provided to them.
At the time, the company responded to protests, coming up with a 12-step programme to improve partner ratings and their livelihoods as well. However, protests continued to persist.
"Once the IDs are blocked, the company asks us to join from a different ID. So, to do that, we must pay for the products and equipment again," Ritika claimed.
Company figures also showed that roughly a quarter of partner earnings go towards commissions, another 8 percent towards travel, and 17 percent towards product purchases. In general, partners earn Rs 280 to Rs 300 an hour after commissions, product payments and travel costs.
Rikta Krishnaswamy, a coordinator at AIGWU's Delhi wing told The Quint that the July protests was done to tell UC that the issues put forth concerned thousands of workers and not just a handful of them.
The AIGWU has also filed a dispute case with the Labour Department in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida. Eight rounds of meeting with government and UC officials have taken place to address the issues, Krishnaswamy said.
Seema Singh, director of Mehnatkash Association, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working for the rights of gig workers, said,
"We sent them an email with our list of issues, which we did earlier too. In July, we held discussion with UC representatives and they assured us of some change. Yet, there has been no progress," Nirmal Agni, who works with Mehnatkash Association said.
Shaik Salauddin, national general secretary, Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT), an independent organisation advocating for legal reforms for gig workers, said that government intervention is essential.
“Our focus is three-fold; job guarantee, social security, and finally there should be a law that should cover gig and platform workers," Salauddin, said.
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