Meena*, a 39 year-old mother of two was glad when Urban Company offered flexible hours and was ready to take up as many jobs as she would like.
After closing her salon in Ghaziabad, Meena started taking up clients full time from the Urban Company app.
But a couple of months ago, Meena got into an accident and fractured her arm during a bad storm.
“I already had four cancellations. I was going to the client’s house but I got into a bad accident and my scooty overturned and I injured my hand. I had to cancel the job and this became my fifth cancellation.”
Meena said that despite showing her medical records to prove that she had an accident and requesting them to reconsider their decision, her ID was blocked.
Meena’s younger son is in the ninth standard and her elder son was to start college this year. But her older son is now working to support the family’s income since Meena has lost her work.
“I have been a dedicated worker. From 7 am the jobs start coming on the app. I worked from 7 am to 7 pm. My children have waited at home for me to come and give them food but I have committed myself to this job. How will I educate my children now?”
Meena is not the only Urban Company beautician whose ID was blocked in recent months.
What’s Going On?
Urban Company workers, referred to as “partners” by the company, said that new rules accompanied by arbitrary blocking of IDs and unrealistic rating and response rate requirements, have led them to lose their jobs.
On 12th June beauticians and gig workers associated with the Urban Company protested in Gurgaon challenging the permanent ID block system of Urban Company. The company has fired multiple partners without any prior warning and adequate explanation. The company also charges a hefty registration fee (40k-50k or more).
Poonam (37) complains of having her ID permanently blocked after 7 years and challenges the company on its policies. The company insists on new registration rather than reinstating the permanently banned IDs. Many workers suspect this is happening to old workers because new workers pay heavy fees, which is more profitable for the company.
What needs to change?
The protesters across the states of Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Rajasthan and the All-India Gig Workers Unions, affiliated by the CITU has raised a long set of demands. When workers went to hand-over a letter to the Urban Company office, they were not allowed to enter.
“We are trying to meet the CEO of Urban Company. Our main demand is that the blocked IDs are reinstated. If it doesn’t get sorted out, we’ll go to the office of the labor commissioner,” said Manoj Yadav, coordinator of the Maharashtra chapter of AIGWU.
Urban Company has responded by bluntly saying that “we had recently asked a few partners who were not meeting the marketplace standards despite multiple prior notices and re-trainings, to part ways with the marketplace.”
This is unacceptable as many workers have lost access to an income in spite of paying heavy fees of 9000 per month.
Join us in demanding the Urban Company officials to respect workers rights by:
Unblocking the IDs of the workers
Removing the permanent blocking systems
Make no changes to the Urban Company platform without the consent of the workers also known as ‘partners.’
And grant paid sick and pregnancy leaves for women partners
Note: Meena is an anonymized name.
Sources:
Meena*, a 39 year-old mother of two was glad when Urban Company offered flexible hours and was ready to take up as many jobs as she would like.
After closing her salon in Ghaziabad, Meena started taking up clients full time from the Urban Company app.
But a couple of months ago, Meena got into an accident and fractured her arm during a bad storm.
“I already had four cancellations. I was going to the client’s house but I got into a bad accident and my scooty overturned and I injured my hand. I had to cancel the job and this became my fifth cancellation.”
Meena said that despite showing her medical records to prove that she had an accident and requesting them to reconsider their decision, her ID was blocked.
Meena’s younger son is in the ninth standard and her elder son was to start college this year. But her older son is now working to support the family’s income since Meena has lost her work.
“I have been a dedicated worker. From 7 am the jobs start coming on the app. I worked from 7 am to 7 pm. My children have waited at home for me to come and give them food but I have committed myself to this job. How will I educate my children now?”
Meena is not the only Urban Company beautician whose ID was blocked in recent months.
What’s Going On?
Urban Company workers, referred to as “partners” by the company, said that new rules accompanied by arbitrary blocking of IDs and unrealistic rating and response rate requirements, have led them to lose their jobs.
On 12th June beauticians and gig workers associated with the Urban Company protested in Gurgaon challenging the permanent ID block system of Urban Company. The company has fired multiple partners without any prior warning and adequate explanation. The company also charges a hefty registration fee (40k-50k or more).
Poonam (37) complains of having her ID permanently blocked after 7 years and challenges the company on its policies. The company insists on new registration rather than reinstating the permanently banned IDs. Many workers suspect this is happening to old workers because new workers pay heavy fees, which is more profitable for the company.
What needs to change?
The protesters across the states of Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Rajasthan and the All-India Gig Workers Unions, affiliated by the CITU has raised a long set of demands. When workers went to hand-over a letter to the Urban Company office, they were not allowed to enter.
“We are trying to meet the CEO of Urban Company. Our main demand is that the blocked IDs are reinstated. If it doesn’t get sorted out, we’ll go to the office of the labor commissioner,” said Manoj Yadav, coordinator of the Maharashtra chapter of AIGWU.
Urban Company has responded by bluntly saying that “we had recently asked a few partners who were not meeting the marketplace standards despite multiple prior notices and re-trainings, to part ways with the marketplace.”
This is unacceptable as many workers have lost access to an income in spite of paying heavy fees of 9000 per month.
Join us in demanding the Urban Company officials to respect workers rights by:
Unblocking the IDs of the workers
Removing the permanent blocking systems
Make no changes to the Urban Company platform without the consent of the workers also known as ‘partners.’
And grant paid sick and pregnancy leaves for women partners
Note: Meena is an anonymized name.
Sources: