MOM to set up advisory committee on gig worker protection

Sharanya Pillai

Published Tue, Sep 14, 2021 · 04:04 AM

THE Ministry of Manpower will convene an advisory committee to look into strengthening protections for platform workers, namely delivery riders, private-hire car drivers and taxi drivers.

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, Senior Minister of State for Manpower Koh Poh Koon said that the committee will focus on ensuring a "more balanced relationship" between platforms and platform workers.

He noted that platform workers can resemble employees. Platform companies set the price of their product, determine which jobs are assigned to which workers and manage how the workers perform. This includes imposing penalties and suspensions.

"Most platform workers earn a modest income, even before the impact of Covid-19, and may find it harder to afford housing, healthcare and retirement," he said.

"Because their contracts with platform companies are not employment contracts, they do not have basic job protections that most employees enjoy, such as work injury compensation, union representation and employer CPF. This is a concern as more people take up such work and some at a young age."

In Tuesday's Parliament session, several Members of Parliament had filed questions about protections for gig workers, who work for platforms such as Grab, Deliveroo, foodpanda and Gojek.

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In 2020, out of a pool of 190,000 self-employed persons, some 79,000 individuals worked with matching platform companies, Dr Koh revealed in response to a question on the size of the gig workforce.

About half of the 79,000 are private-hire car drivers and one-third are taxi drivers. The remainder are mainly car and light goods vehicle drivers performing delivery work.

From 2018 to 2020, the median monthly income of full-time employed residents in the three occupations stood between S$1,500 and S$2,000.

On the question of fatalities, Dr Koh said that there were two fatalities each year in 2019 and 2020, and none in 2018. There is no data available on delivery riders' traffic-related work injuries.

The advisory committee will need time to consult widely with stakeholders and study issues carefully before making its recommendations, Dr Koh said, adding that the points raised in parliament will be shared with the committee.

The move tracks developments in several other countries where the gig economy model has taken hold. This week, a court in The Netherlands ruled that the relationship between Uber and the platform's drivers "meets all the characteristics of an employment contract". The court added: "This means that Uber is obligated to institute a labour contract with drivers... and therefore means these drivers are entitled to backpay in certain circumstances."

The Dutch decision came in the wake of a similar ruling in the UK, which subsequently led to an union deal for Uber drivers in Britain. American lawmakers as well have moved to start regulating the gig economy.

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