Last year, the Tripartite Workgroup (TWG) on Representation for Platform Workers formed by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), National Taxi Association (NTA), National Private Hire Vehicles Association (NPHVA), and National Delivery Champions Association (NDCA) has called for the Gahmen to provide better protection and more support for the platform workers in Singapore.
Amongst the 12 recommendations submitted by the TWG, one of them is a representation framework for platform workers, which is finally accepted by Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower today (12 July). This representation will allow platform workers to cham siong (negotiate) with platform owners and even enter into legal binding agreements with them.
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These platform workers include your all your Grab drivers, Gojek drivers, Grab food delivery riders, Food Panda delivery riders, and all the taxi uncles and aunties who are technically not recognised as employees under the Employment Act. If you are a walker with any of these platforms, you also included.
Although trade unions usually play the role of representing employees’ interests, but already say liao, they are not recognised as employers under the Employment Act mah, so they cannot form unions to collectively negotiate for their rights loh.
That’s why when it comes to negotiating for their rights in the workplace such as payment terms, job allocation, health and safety, and when they need to resolve disputes hor they are usually the lugi ones (who lose out) because they got nobody to speak up for them. They have to ownself KKBZ (KKBZ = kaki bozhong, ownself take care of ownself).
So, togetherly, the TWG submitted 12 recommendations to the Gahmen and gai siao on how they can implement policies to better the lives and work conditions of these platform workers.
In response to the Gahmen’s acceptance of the recommendations, NTUC’s Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng said:
“The Government’s acceptance of the recommendations is a significant milestone for all platform workers. NTUC has been advocating for their interests and engaging them to understand their challenges over the years. As what would be the first-in-the-world tripartite collaboration for platform workers, the implementation of this framework paves the way for NTUC and our affiliated associations to officially represent them. We seek to work closely with our partners and platform workers, to champion them in the areas of better wages, welfare, and work prospects. We want to thank all platform workers who have placed their trust and journeyed with us in making this possible.”
Reportedly, these recommendations will be implemented in a progressive manner, from the later part of 2024 at the earliest.
