Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday (29 Aug) that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is studying how to give delivery workers a more secure future, as more people take up such work.
In his National Day Rally (NDR) speech, PM Lee expressed particular concern to a specific group of lower-wage workers (LWWs), which are the delivery workers on online platforms – like Foodpanda, Grab, and Deliveroo – noting that they earn modest income despite their hard work during the pandemic.
He explained that the online platforms determine which jobs are assigned to these workers and also manage how they perform, including imposing penalties and suspensions, yet delivery workers have no employment contracts with the online platforms.
As a result, these workers lack basic job protections like workplace injury compensation, union representation and employer CPF, he said.
“Besides delivery workers, there are also some LWWs in other jobs who have an employee-like relationship with platforms. They too will find it harder to afford housing, healthcare and eventually, retirement.
“More people are taking up this type of work, so this problem is growing. MOM is studying it and will be doing consultations. We must address the issues to give these workers more secure futures,” said the Prime Minister.
PM Lee also noted that delivery workers are under constant stress for reasons beyond their control – such as bad weather, scary dogs, motorcycle breakdowns, trying their best to hit daily targets, and not always succeeding.
“Delivery workers, are for all intents and purposes, just like employees,” he remarked.
Following PM Lee’s NDR speech, Workers’ Party (WP) Member of Parliament (MP) Louis Chua took to his Facebook on Sunday saying that he was pleased to hear MOM is studying the issues faced by delivery workers in Singapore.
“I look forward to the outcome of MOM’s review and hope more can be done to protect the interests of and provide a safety net for our gig economy workers,” he remarked.
The MP for Sengkang GRC had earlier raised concerns on the safety net of gig economy workers in Parliament.
During the MOM Committee of Supply Debate in March, he asked the Ministry if more could be done to protect the interests of gig economy workers through a safety net that includes mandatory insurance and minimum levels of benefits.
“I shared that these workers are not protected by employment laws and regulations, and companies are not obliged to provide CPF, medical insurance and other forms of employee benefits. Moreover, their income is subject to incentive structures which companies can have the power to change at any point in time and often do not require consent.
“As such, many of our gig economy workers could end up stuck in the cycle of insecure work, reducing their opportunities for career advancement and, as access to credit is restricted, exposing them to greater risk of financial shocks.
“Then Manpower Minister Mrs Josephine Teo noted that as MP Patrick Tay and I had suggested, one way is to provide our gig economy workers with basic employment rights – but that ‘this is not straightforward’,” Mr Chua recalled the debate.
Mrs Teo had also noted during the debate that the government should avoid a one-size-fits-all approach in supporting self-employed persons (SEPs) due to their diversity.
She highlighted three areas of focus: Firstly, the government will support SEPs who wish to switch to regular employment; secondly, the government has started to help SEPs better meet healthcare and retirements needs through various schemes.
Mrs Teo added that the third area of focus was to find a better balance in the arrangements between gig workers and their intermediaries that deploy their services.
