Amid an ongoing debate over the pay scale and working environment for gig workers associated with the e-commerce sites, AAP MP Raghav Chadha on Monday shared a video of himself dressed as a delivery agent. While sharing the video on X (formerly Twitter), Chadha asserted that he spent a day as a delivery agent to know their daily concerns. In the video, the AAP MP is seen dressed in Blinkit's uniform and riding motorcycles to deliver the products to the customers. Chadha, through social media posts, has been very vocal on the issue in the past few months, demanding a fixed salary and better working conditions for the gig workers. Apart from this, he also raised the issue in the winter session of the parliament, receiving backlash from the e-commerce founders.
While sharing the video, Chadha asserted that he spent a day as a gig worker to understand the challenges faced by them. “Away from boardrooms, at the grassroots. I lived their day,” Chadha wrote in the caption. His video came amid the growing demands of better working conditions for the gig workers.
Earlier in December, several gig workers' unions announced strikes on key occasions, including Christmas Day and the eve of the New Year. While thousands of delivery agents participated in the protest, the food delivery platforms stated that they delivered at a record pace.
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Apart from this, Zomato and Blinkit founder Deepinder Goyal described the protestors as “miscreants”, further reminding that the e-commerce sites had created thousands of jobs. While replying to his remarks, Chadha stated that the gig workers have every right to protest.
“Delivery partners across India went on strike demanding basic dignity, fair pay, safety, predictable rules and social security. The response from the Platform was to call them ‘miscreants’ and turn a labour demand into a law & order narrative. That is not just insulting, it is dangerous," Chadha stated in a post on X. “Workers asking for fair pay are not criminals,” he added.