Ranchi, Oct 19 (KNN) The Jharkhand government is working on a framework to define minimum wages for gig workers working with different app-based companies, reported TOI.

The state labour, employment, training and skill development department officials on Wednesday said that a minimum wages advisory board has been constituted comprising government officials, representatives from different trade unions, Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI) for recommending rules and regulations.

The government has also provisioned scope for inclusion of representation of companies employing gig workers such as Zomato, Swiggy and the likes on the panel, officials told TOI.

A maiden meeting of the advisory board chaired by labour commissioner Sanjeev Kumar Besra took place on October 11 and the next round of consultations will take place after Durga Puja.

Talking to TOI, joint labour commissioner-cum-director of minimum wages, Rajesh Prasad said, “Things are at a very nascent stage, but work on minimum wages for gig workers was one of the key agendas during our meeting on October 11. To our knowledge, no state in the country has so far come up with minimum wage rules for gig workers.”

In Jharkhand, minimum wage defined for unskilled labour currently is Rs 352.38 per day. If efforts for gig workers pass through, then they may also come under this ambit. Prasad, however, cited initial hurdles in defining minimum wage for gig workers owing to various timeframe they work under.

“The biggest hurdle is that some companies said that they provide wage/incentives per delivery; some per hourly basis and so on. Also, those working as gig workers are diverse as some work for two hours in their spare time, some four hours etc. The wage advisory board is hence holding consultation meets with all the possible stakeholders to take their inputs before coming up with recommendations to the government,” he said.

Also, majority of the app-based delivery companies don’t have permanent offices here. “That shouldn’t be an issue because if the government defines minimum wage for gig workers, all will have to comply with the law of this state. Our priority is first to consensually define the minimum wages,” he said.  

(KNN Bureau)