Rideshare and delivery company Uber and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) have signed a historic new agreement to protect the flexibility of gig workers and support minimum standards and benefits for workers in the on-demand economy.
This is the first time a platform company in Australia has struck a deal with a union across rideshare and food delivery industries.
TWU national secretary Michael Kaine聽said on June 29 that the deal means food delivery and rideshare drivers will have safer, fairer working conditions and dispute procedures. 鈥淚t sets out a path for the future鈥, he said, adding he hoped it would聽bring 鈥渟ome comfort to gig workers who have faced difficulty in the past, as well as the families of those tragically killed while carrying out this work鈥.
The family of Hungry Panda driver Xiaojun Chen were聽recently awarded $830,000 compensation after the 43-year-old was killed聽in Sydney in September 2020. Chen was one of seven food delivery drivers who died on the job that year.
Kaine said the agreement was significant because it gives gig workers more protections. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to get past this divide in our legal system which says, if you鈥檙e an employee you get all the entitlements built up over decades. But if you鈥檙e an independent contractor, even if you鈥檙e highly reliant on the company that engages you, all of a sudden, you get none.鈥
Central to the deal, which took months of discussions, is Uber聽and the聽TWU鈥檚聽support for an independent federal body to create industry-wide standards.
: minimum enforceable earnings and benefits/conditions for platform workers based on the principle of cost recovery; an efficient mechanism to resolve disputes, such as deactivation of relevant platform worker accounts; platform workers have the right to join and be represented by a relevant registered organisation whereby they have an effective collective voice; and that these standards and objectives be enforced.
The TWU and Uber have also committed to further discuss the agreed principles with a view to reaching a set of industry standards across the rideshare and delivery industries.
Uber and International Transport Workers鈥 Federation (ITF), of which the聽TWU聽is an affiliate, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in February to discuss聽working conditions for drivers and couriers globally.
Kaine said the deal is the result of the 鈥測ears-long campaign led by gig economy workers to modernise out-of-date industrial laws鈥 and that that the debate is now over. 鈥淔or too long, the balancing of flexibility and the enforcement of strong workplace rights and protections has been seen as a zero-sum game.鈥
He said the deal also 鈥渟ends a strong signal to the newly-minted federal government that it must act to deliver gig companies regulatory certainty and extend appropriate safeguards to workers across the gig economy鈥.
The union signed a similar聽聽in May.
A reported in March just how rife聽insecure work聽is. Menulog CEO told the committee that it was planning a pilot employment program for couriers around Sydney鈥檚 CBD. At the same time, Menulog launched a trial of minimum wages and benefits for its couriers.
Ahead of the election Labor promised to update the Fair Work Act to account for the rise of the gig economy, including allowing the Fair Work Commission to set minimum standards for 鈥渆mployee-like鈥 forms of work.
Uber聽and Doordash appear to be accepting some form of industry self-regulation.
The TWU-Uber agreement also helps the TWU because it implicitly accepts the union鈥檚 right to represent gig workers.
Employment lawyer Trent聽Hancock told the July 1 New Daily the agreement will benefit gig workers because they聽鈥渧ery rarely have the ability to organise on a collective basis鈥 and the ability to 鈥渦nionise to bargain on a collective basis will always give those workers a greater capacity to obtain better standards鈥.
He said drivers will be paid more, have more leave entitlements and the incoming appeals-resolution mechanism will mean they can raise grievances.