Swiggy, Zomato and other gig workers to go on nationwide strike on New Year’s Eve

New Delhi (RNI) Online food, grocery and quick-commerce services across India are likely to face disruptions on December 31 as gig and delivery workers working with platforms such as Swiggy, Zomato and other app-based services prepare for a nationwide strike. New Year’s Eve is one of the busiest days of the year for online orders, and the protest could affect last-minute party supplies, food deliveries and everyday shopping in many cities.

The strike has been called by the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union and the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT), with support from worker groups in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi-NCR, West Bengal and parts of Tamil Nadu. According to the unions, delivery partners who form the backbone of India’s app-based commerce system are being forced to work longer hours even as their earnings continue to fall.

The unions allege that workers are subjected to unsafe delivery targets, arbitrary account blocking, lack of job security, and very limited access to basic social protection. In a letter sent to Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, IFAT said it represents around 400,000 app-based transport and delivery workers across the country.

The federation also pointed out that workers had already held a nationwide flash strike on December 25, which led to a 50 to 60 percent disruption in services in several cities. That protest was meant to highlight unsafe delivery models, declining incomes, unfair deactivations of worker IDs and the absence of social security. The union claimed that after the December 25 strike, platform companies did not engage in dialogue but instead responded with threats, account deactivations and algorithm-based penalties, and even used third-party agencies to weaken the protest.

With the December 31 strike, customers may face delays, cancellations and reduced availability of delivery partners as many workers log off the apps or sharply cut down their working hours. Major cities such as Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata, along with several tier-2 markets, are expected to be affected.

In its letter, IFAT has urged the government to bring platform companies under labour laws, ban unsafe delivery models such as extreme fast-delivery timelines, and ensure fair and transparent wage systems. It has also demanded social security benefits including health insurance, accident cover and pensions, along with protection of workers’ right to organise and bargain collectively. The federation has sought immediate government intervention and called for tripartite talks between the government, platform companies and worker unions.