Gig Workers Union President Demands Removal of 10-Minute Delivery Option

Salauddin said that nearly 40,000 workers across India had supported the protest on December 25 and that the union remains open to discussions with delivery companies. “Our demand to the platform companies was that our old payout structure be reinstated and that the 10-minute delivery option be removed from all platforms. We had called for a strike on the 25th and 31st, and on the 25th, 40 thousand workers across India came out in support of it. We are ready to discuss and talk about it. We request the state and central government also to interfere in this,” he told ANI.

Salauddin said the protest had already begun in phases. “On the 25th, around 40,000 workers across India joined the protest, due to which 50 to 60 per cent of orders were delayed. What happened on December 25 was just the trailer; the real picture will be seen on December 31,” he said.

Speaking further, Salauddin said platform-based workers associated with companies such as Swiggy, Zomato, Zepto and Amazon have united under the banner of the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT) to press for long-pending demands.

“People can see that we have been continuously raising our demands with platform companies. We have placed five key demands before them. Our first demand is that the old payout structure should be restored. Earlier, during festivals such as Dussehra, Diwali, and Bakrid, fair payments were made. That system must be implemented again regularly,” he said.

Salauddin also alleged that algorithm-based control has adversely affected workers’ earnings. He said incentives are not being paid properly and there is a lack of clarity in payments. He added that workers are demanding a proper grievance redressal mechanism along with social security benefits.

Claiming growing support for the movement, Salauddin said more than 1.5 lakh workers across India are backing the protest, with many more expected to join in the coming days.

He further alleged intimidation by aggregator companies, claiming that workers are being threatened, bouncers are being deployed near warehouses, and delivery IDs are being blocked through team leaders and area managers. “This kind of pressure will not work,” he said.

Earlier, Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha reiterated his call to ban 10-minute delivery apps, alleging that such companies exploit gig workers while enriching themselves through high valuations.

“In today’s time, Swiggy-Zomato delivery boys, Blinkit-Zepto riders, and Ola-Uber drivers are a workforce on whose backs these big companies have become unicorns and achieved billion-dollar valuations. In this entire ecosystem, if there is one group that is oppressed and under immense pressure, it is the gig workers,” Chadha said in an exclusive interview with ANI.

Chadha further said that under the 10-minute delivery guarantee, workers are forced to drive recklessly, face anxiety, risk losing incentives, and deal with customer abuse if deliveries are delayed, without receiving regular worker protections.

As part of improving working conditions and rights, Chadha proposed setting fixed working hours for gig workers to end the practice of people working 14 to 16 hours a day to earn incentives.