Noida gig‑worker protests
Women gig workers in Noida protested over fluctuating earnings, strict punctuality metrics and lack of basic facilities, and authorities later traced a widely shared video to a different state—showing how misinformation can spread during unrest. (indianexpress.com), (moneycontrol.com), (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
Around 40 women gig workers protested in Noida on April 15, saying their pay, hours and basic working conditions had become unlivable. (indianexpress.com) The workers, many linked to Urban Company, gathered in Sector 60 and asked for fixed eight-hour shifts, weekly days off, toilets, drinking water and a place to sit between jobs. They told The Indian Express their earnings rise and fall with customer ratings and punctuality scores. (indianexpress.com) Several women said they can lose income for arriving late even when travel time between bookings is tight, and said they often spend long stretches on the road without access to washrooms. The protest followed separate wage unrest in Noida’s industrial belt earlier in the week. (indianexpress.com; timesofindia.indiatimes.com) That overlap turned a workplace complaint into a wider public-order story. On April 14, a video spread on Facebook and X claiming to show police assaulting workers in Noida’s Sector 62, but police said the clip was actually from Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh. (moneycontrol.com) Police registered a case over what they described as misleading social media posts during the unrest. News18 reported that more than 100 unidentified people were also booked after the April 13 violence, in which protesters allegedly damaged gates, cameras and public property and injured a sub-inspector with stone pelting. (moneycontrol.com; news18.com) The Uttar Pradesh government responded on April 15 by warning that outsourcing agencies and contractors could face blacklisting or licence cancellation if workers deployed through them were involved in violence. The state also said police verification of deployed workers would be mandatory. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) Officials also said wages under the state’s minimum wage framework had been raised by 21 percent, and told agencies to follow those rules. That response addressed industrial unrest over pay, but the women gig workers’ demands centered on scheduling, ratings, rest space and sanitation. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com; indianexpress.com) Urban Company’s response was not included in the cited Indian Express report. By April 16, the Noida story had split into two tracks: women workers pressing for steadier conditions on the ground, and police trying to separate real grievances from false viral footage online. (indianexpress.com; moneycontrol.com)
