After Sec 144, strike off but gig workers say will fight in court, launch a campaign to boycott UC
Gurugram: The Gurugram administration on Wednesday imposed Section 144 of the CrPC in the vicinity of Urban Company's Udyog Vihar offices, following which the women service professionals who were protesting in the open for two nights returned and have now decided to fight out the tech company in the court.
With Urban Company, in an unprecedented move, suing its own service partners and seeking an injunction against their organising efforts, the police advised the protesters to first reply to the legal notice issued to them in court and organise protests at spots designated to them.
The tech company provides an application-based platform connecting service professionals to prospective customers. The professionals on the platform are mostly independent service providers such as beauticians, electricians, plumbers, etc.
The service professionals have been protesting against several policies that disincentivises workers who do not agree to sign a subscription-based contract with the company and pay Rs 3,000 per month to get work through the app.
On Wednesday evening, women protestors along with certain members of All India Gig Workers Associations met at MG Road in Gurugram and decided how they plan to carry forward their agitation against Urban Company through legal means.
Meanwhile, the All-India Gig Workers Associations on Wednesday also started a campaign where they urged consumers to either uninstall Urban Company app or provide poor ratings for treating their service partners poorly.
On the legal notice sent by Urban Company, the members of All India Gig Workers Association stated that it was a ploy by the tech company to use their influence to deny workers their rights.
The associations once again raised the demands of how in the guise of a minimum guarantee of work, Urban Company is rather taking more from the service professionals in terms of charging hefty subscriptions.
The policy favours work to those who subscribe and takes away work from those who choose not to. Moreover, the policy has a clause for discounting works, which essentially asks the best professionals, with most clients, to take a 10 per cent cut in their earning to provide a discount to the end consumer.
The Association has also alleged that the company through its working policy also has full control to coerce the partner in terms of providing her or him with the adequate number of client service requests from which ultimately the service professionals also earn the livelihood.
It is important to note that this is not for the first time when women gig workers at Urban Company have protested over the policies of the Unicorn. In October this year the woman protestors had protested against the hefty commission charges and poor working conditions. Owing to this the company made some changes in its business model.
The company, in its suit, against the protesters and their family members has called their protest illegal and claimed that their efforts to organise strikes were illegal.
