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Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the political discourse of gig work in India, focusing on how political parties, the state, the judiciary, and trade unions shape it. It argues, neoliberal policies encourage informalisation, and limit labour rights. This aligns broadly with the panel’s emphasis on decent work.

Paper long abstract:

In recent decades, algorithmic management (machine learning) and online mediated gigs have significantly transformed the nature of work and employment. In India, 7.7 million people are engaged in the gig economy, which is estimated to reach 23.5 million by 2029-30. Gig Work is defined, regulated, and perceived differently by the political parties, the state, the judiciary, and trade unions. While gig work is well understood from a sociological and economic perspective, there is a need to understand it politically. By encompassing Samuel P. Huntington’s discourse analysis framework, this paper examines the political discourse surrounding Gig Work in India. This article answers some key questions: What is the political discourse of Gig Work? How do political parties, state, judiciary, and trade unions shape the political discourse of Gig Work? This paper argues that political parties and the state align with the neo-liberal regime of informalising Gig Work and providing citizen-centric benefits instead of workers’ entitlements. The interest of the Judiciary in labour issues is limited, and judicial activism that has characterised other domains is conspicuously absent in protecting labour rights, particularly gig workers. While trade unions have adopted a narrow approach of demanding social security from the state instead of a rising fundamental structural question of precarity, that is, recognising as ‘worker’.

Keywords: gig work, political discourse, political party, state, jurisdiction, trade union