December 31, 2025: Gig and platform workers in India have embarked on a countrywide strike on December 31 against exploitative practices, unsafe working conditions and the denial of minimum wages and social security. This New Year’s Eve strike is a continuation of the historic protest initiated on Christmas Day and marks a significant moment of collective resistance by gig workers.
Workers delivering food, groceries and essential services are today among the most exploited sections of the Indian working class. Platform companies deny them recognition as workers while exercising total control through opaque algorithms, arbitrary ID blocking and digital hire and fire. Per order payments have steadily declined while fuel, maintenance and living costs have sharply increased. Workers are forced to work excessively long hours on unsafe roads, without social security, medical protection or any effective grievance redressal. The ten-minute and short delivery models pushed by companies have further intensified exploitation, forcing workers to risk their lives under extreme pressure for miserable earnings, even as companies continue to reap enormous profits.
The strike by gig workers boosts the preparations for the February 12, 2026 all India General Strike called by central trade unions and federations against the exploitative, slavery enabling and anti-worker labour codes imposed to serve corporate interests. Despite gig and platform workers emerging as one of the fastest-growing sectors of the Indian working class, the Modi government has deliberately kept them outside the definition of “workers” under these codes of modern slavery, categorising them separately to deny minimum wages, social security, and basic labour rights.
The CPI(ML) extends its full solidarity to the striking gig and platform workers and supports their struggle for dignity, labour rights and security.
