The government intends to introduce the Kerala State Platform-Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill 2024 in the next Assembly session in October, Minister for Labour V. Sivankutty has said.
He was speaking after inaugurating a one-day workshop in connection with the preparation of the final Bill for gig workers’ welfare and pay and service conditions here on Wednesday.
The Minister said that gig workers were an inevitable part of the modern service sector. As per NITI Aayog, there were 77 lakh gig workers in the country. This was expected to reach 2.5 crore in the next five years.
In the absence of employee-employer contract, they were not obligated to one another. As far as the employer was concerned, the necessary work would get done in the time specified. The compensation was made digitally. Other than this, there was no direct contact with the worker. As a result, the possibility of gig workers being exploited more and the employers making maximum profits existed in the current labour situation.
Though the Union government had introduced the Social Security Code in 2020 to ensure them job security, not much progress was made. The workers also lacked a strong organisation to represent them. Against this backdrop, the State government intended to introduce a comprehensive legislation to ensure the gig workers’ service conditions, financial security, and welfare and put in place the primary employers’ and aggregators’ responsibilities. The draft Bill was in the final stages, he said.
The Minister also announced that a model centre where gig workers could relax would be opened in the city in association with the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation so that gig workers did not have to take rest by the roadside or face difficulties owing to lack of toilet facilities.
