Delivery partners associated with India’s largest food delivery and e-commerce platforms, including Swiggy, Zomato, Zepto, Blinkit, Amazon and Flipkart, have announced a nationwide strike on December 25 and December 31, 2025, intensifying scrutiny on working conditions within the country’s fast-growing platform economy.
The strike call, issued jointly by multiple gig worker unions, comes during one of the busiest periods for online commerce and food delivery, underlining workers’ growing frustration with what they describe as steadily deteriorating working conditions.
Growing Discontent Among Last-Mile Workers
In a joint statement, the unions highlighted that delivery partners—who form the backbone of last-mile logistics—are facing shrinking incomes, unpredictable work hours and rising occupational risks. Despite being crucial to platform operations during festivals, sales events and peak demand periods, workers claim their earnings have not kept pace with increasing costs and expectations.
Delivery workers also raised concerns about unsafe delivery targets, particularly under ultra-fast delivery models that push riders to complete orders within extremely tight timelines. According to the unions, such pressure significantly increases the risk of road accidents and physical exhaustion.
Arbitrary Account Suspensions and Lack of Welfare
Another major grievance centres on sudden and unexplained account suspensions, often referred to as ID blocking. Workers say such actions can instantly cut off their livelihoods, sometimes without prior notice, justification or a clear grievance redressal mechanism.
The unions also flagged the absence of basic welfare benefits, including health insurance, accident cover and social security, even though delivery partners are increasingly treated as essential contributors to platform growth. Workers argue that the lack of safety nets leaves them vulnerable to financial distress in case of injury, illness or technical issues on the apps.
Key Demands from Platform Companies
Among their core demands, the unions are seeking transparent and predictable pay systems that factor in working hours, fuel expenses, vehicle maintenance and on-ground operational costs. They have also called for the rollback of ultra-fast delivery timelines, such as 10-minute deliveries, which they argue prioritise speed over safety.
Additional demands include assured work allocation, mandatory rest breaks, improved accident insurance coverage and the provision of safety gear such as helmets and reflective jackets. Workers are also pressing for stronger in-app grievance mechanisms to address routing errors, delayed payments and technical glitches that affect earnings.
Concerns Over Algorithmic Control
The unions raised serious concerns about what they described as “unchecked algorithmic control” exercised by platform companies. According to them, automated systems increasingly determine pay, incentives and work allocation, often without transparency or human oversight.
Workers allege that frequent changes to incentive structures and opaque performance metrics shift operational risks entirely onto delivery partners, even as delivery expectations continue to tighten. The lack of clarity around how algorithms function has become a growing point of friction between platforms and their workforce.
Regulatory Context and Call for Government Intervention
The strike announcement comes shortly after the introduction of labour provisions requiring platform aggregators to contribute 1–2 per cent towards a social security fund for gig and platform workers. While unions welcomed the move, they said implementation and enforcement remain unclear.
Calling for stronger state and central government intervention, the unions are demanding a comprehensive social security framework, legal recognition of the right to unionise and collective bargaining rights for gig workers.
“Delivery workers are being pushed to the edge by unsafe work models, declining incomes and the complete absence of social protection,” said Shaik Salauddin, founder president of the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU) and co-founder and national general secretary of the Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT).
Pressure Mounts on Platform Economy
The unions warned that without timely regulatory action, pressures on gig workers would intensify as platforms continue to expand aggressively across food delivery, quick commerce and e-commerce sectors.
With strikes planned on two high-demand days, the protest is expected to disrupt deliveries and reignite the broader debate around fairness, safety and accountability in India’s rapidly evolving gig economy.
