Urban Company NCR Women Workers’ Strike
By All India Gig Workers Union
Beauticians and spa workers working with Urban Company in Delhi NCR have been protesting against exploitative conditions, poor safety standards and high commissions collected by the home services platform.
On October 8, 2021 hundreds of women ‘partners’ of the home-services providing platform staged a huge Gherao outside the company HQ in Gurgaon. Urban Company does not consider these women as employees and keeps them in the ‘Partners’ category. Thus, their pay structures, allowance, working hours and work policies are not fixed. On top of this, the company directly sells expensive beauty products used by the workers.
During the Gherao, the protestors presented a long list of complaints and demands before the company. Although the demonstration lasted only a day, the associated women see it as a long-term movement to improve the conditions of gig-workers who engage in ‘unhealthy’ piece-rate work, mitigated by digital apps.
THE START OF A MOVEMENT
While some media outlets have tried to show the 8 October protest as a ‘spontaneous’ mobilisation’, the truth is that women workers on the platform have been organising using digital platforms like WhatsApp and conducting small public meetings all over Delhi NCR.
They have done this alongside taking care of house-work and domestic responsibilities and doing work on the platform as well. Over the past few months, they tried to raise issues with their category managers and even tried, on multiple occasions, to directly get in touch with the CEO by taking delegations to his office but were turned away on every occasion.
THE SPARK THAT IGNITED THE MOVEMENT
The ad-hoc changes in the commission structures by Urban Company, coupled with heavy penalties on cancellation of orders had created a condition where many workers were losing money instead of earning it!
The erratic ratings systems also led to workers’ IDs being disabled post paying heavy costs for beauty kits (to the tune of Rs. 35,000 at the time of onboarding) with no recourse from the company on reinstatement or re-training left many without work.
In a time where expenses are rising and incomes dwindling workers felt betrayed by the company’s apathy. Some claimed that they were being penalised for even calling the complaint helpline!
A day before the 8 October strike, a Delhi-based female Urban Company worker texted a suicidal post on one of their internal Whatsapp groups. This added the proverbial spark to the unrest that had been brewing for a long time. The women workers decided it was time to hold the company accountable and planned a Gherao of the Urban Company Head Office in Gurgaon and called a 2 day logoff strike as a direct ultimatum to the company to bring forth pro-worker policies and systems.
The 8 October Gherao and succeeding 2 day log-off strike found wide support amongst the Urban Company workers across Delhi NCR and even workers from other cities sent solidarity and support. News media outlets rushed to cover the story of Urban Company’s exploitative practices. For the few days after the gherao, the company tried to discredit the workers’ struggle by presenting biased and cherry picked data on payouts to different news and media outlets and denied their concerns outrightly. They even started fixing meetings with women workers across Delhi NCR to appease them on the policies and pay/ commission structures to sow division.
URBAN COMPANY’S TACTICS BACKFIRE
The united force of Delhi NCR Urban Company workers was so strong that these tactics by the Urban Company management yielded no fruition. Under the banner of All India Gig Workers’ Union (AIGWU), they gave Urban Company a 13-point demand letter and resolved to intensify their protest if the company didn’t change their ways.
The unwavering resolve of the workers, the pressure created by the media and solidarity pouring from other unions and collectives representing gig and platform workers, forced Urban Company to change their tune over the next couple of days. The company CEO released a 12-point resolution in response to the workers’ demands and held face to face meetings with them.
Even in the media, the company changed their defensive tune and tried to whitewash their exploitative practices that have caused a lot of suffering to the workers. At a public enclave on October 10, the company CEO responded to a question on the recent strikes by saying “…We are willing to learn and have the humility to say that we are not perfect, and our models will evolve. All of us have to be given that opportunity to make mistakes and evolve these models so that eventually we become large companies which create win-win for society.”
Instead of listening to the workers’ concerns and finding actual resolutions to improve their pay and work conditions, the company’s 12-point charter seeks to mitigate the most easily addressable concerns. None of the main issues around pay, ratings and internal categories have been addressed to the satisfaction of the workers. However, the success of their collective bargaining and direct action has made the workers realise that in their unity lies their power.
They have resolved to join the larger gig & platform-based workers’ movement with workers from companies such as Swiggy, Ola and Uber against low wages, poor working conditions, and high work pressure.
