Last-minute party needs, food orders and grocery deliveries through online platforms on New Year’s Eve may face disruptions across India as gig and delivery workers prepare for a nationwide strike on December 31.
With New Year’s Eve being one of the busiest days of the year for online orders, the protest could affect food delivery, quick commerce and e-commerce services in several cities.
Workers associated with platforms such as Zomato, Swiggy, Blinkit, Zepto, Amazon and Flipkart are expected to take part. Unions say the strike could hurt retailers and platforms that rely heavily on last-mile delivery to meet year-end sales targets.
The strike has been called by the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union and the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT), with support from regional worker groups in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi-NCR, West Bengal and parts of Tamil Nadu.
Why Are Gig Workers Protesting?
According to the unions, delivery partners who form the backbone of India’s app-based commerce system are being pushed to work longer hours even as their earnings fall. They allege that workers face unsafe delivery targets, limited job security, lack of dignity at work and almost no access to basic social protection.
In a letter sent to Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, IFAT said it represents around 4,00,000 app-based transport and delivery workers across the country. The federation said workers had already held a nationwide flash strike on December 25, which led to a 50–60% disruption in services in several cities.
The protest, according to the union, was aimed at drawing attention to unsafe delivery models, falling incomes, arbitrary ID blocking and the absence of social security. The federation also claimed that platform companies did not engage with workers after the December 25 protest.
Instead, it alleged that companies responded with threats, account deactivations and algorithm-based penalties. The letter further accused platforms of using third-party agencies to weaken the strike.
With the December 31 strike, customers may face delays and cancellations as delivery executives log off the apps or sharply reduce their workload. The disruptions are expected to hit food orders, grocery deliveries and last-minute shopping in major cities such as Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata, along with several tier-2 markets.
In its letter, IFAT urged the government to regulate platform companies under labour laws and ban unsafe delivery models, including extreme fast-delivery timelines. It also called for an end to arbitrary ID blocking, fair and transparent wage systems, social security benefits such as health cover, accident insurance and pensions, and protection of workers’ right to organise and bargain collectively.
The federation has sought immediate government intervention and asked for tripartite talks involving the government, platform companies and worker unions.
The letter is signed by Shaikh Salauddin, Co-founder and National General Secretary of IFAT, and Inayath Ali, Founder of the Karnataka App-Based Workers Union and National Vice-President of the federation. Copies have also been marked to senior officials in the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
