Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has urged quick-commerce companies to discontinue the marketing and branding of 10-minute delivery services to protect the rights and safety of gig workers, CNBC-TV18 reported on Tuesday.
Unidentified officials in the labour ministry told the news outlet that Mandaviya held a series of meetings with representatives of Blinkit, Zepto, Zomato and Swiggy in the past month to discuss delivery timelines and their impact on workers.
The meetings came weeks after several unions, including the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers and the Gig and Platform Service Workers Union, called on workers employed by quick-commerce platforms to log off from applications in the last week of December to demand reforms in the gig economy.
The workers had sought regulation of platform companies under labour laws, a ban on unsafe 10-minute delivery models, an end to arbitrary ID blocking and penalties, transparent wages, social security, and protection of the right to organise and engage in collective bargaining.
The protests disrupted the operations of Zomato, Swiggy, Blinkit and Zepto in several cities ahead of the New Year celebrations.
An unidentified Labour Ministry official told The Hindu that during the meetings, Mandaviya questioned platforms about the promise of 10-minute deliveries.
Company representatives told the minister that such timelines were enabled by warehouses located close to consumers and not by putting…
Source: Labour minister urges quick-commerce firms to drop 10-minute delivery branding: Reports
