The Platform Question: Power, Accountability and Global South The Platform Question: Power, Accountability and Global South CHAPTER 7 The Gig Economy and Platform Workers: A View from the Ground By Shaik Salauddin The Telangana Gig and Platform Workers’ Union (TGPWU), in partnership with Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), has launched a process of co-building and seeking endorsement for a comprehensive Citizen Mandate in course of DEF’s flagship annual summit, the Digital Citizen Summit 2025. DCS is being held at T-hub, Hyderabad, between 14-15th November 2025 in partnership with Government of Telangana, T-Hub and Centre for Development Policy and Practice, Hyderabad, urging state and national authorities to ensure social security, fair wages, and collective bargaining rights for gig workers. The Mandate aims to amplify workers’ voices across digital labourbased platforms, demanding recognition and justice in the digital economy. This chapter is an excerpt from an Interview taken of Shaik Salauddin, Founder President, Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU) by the Research Team from Digital Empowerment Foundation. The conversation around platforms and people remains incomplete without deliberating on the fact that gig workers are classified as partners instead of employees. According to you, how does this allow platforms to escape accountability for wages, benefits, and social security? In India, app-based platforms such as Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato, Amazon, and Urban Company classify their workers as “independent contractors” or “partners” rather than employees. This terminology is not accidental, rather a deliberate legal and business strategy designed to avoid responsibility for fair wages, social security, and workplace protections. By calling workers “partners,” platforms shift all 104 The Gig Economy and Platform Workers: A View from the Ground The Gig Economy and Platform Workers: A View from the Ground By calling workers “partners,” platforms shift all operational risks onto the individuals who actually perform the labour while retaining total control over pricing, access to work, and incentives. The socalled partnership is deeply unequal. 105