The Government accepted on 23 November 2022 all 12 recommendations by the Advisory Committee on Platform Workers.
The scope of recommendations includes enhancing platform workers’ protection, ensuring adequate coverage in case of work injury, improving their housing and retirement adequacy, and enhancing their representation.
Advisory Committee on Platform Workers Advisor Dr Koh Poh Koon said: “The recommendations are sensible and will substantially improve basic protections for our platform workers in a sustainable way for the platform ecosystem.”
NTUC is a member of the committee.
NTUC said it supports the recommendations to the Government, adding that the recommendations “are a step in the right direction in enhancing the protection of our platform workers.”
The Labour Movement, since August 2021, has called for more robust legislative backing for platform workers to represent them and actively advocate and advance their interests.
The Ministry of Manpower said the Government will work with platform Workers and platform Companies to implement the recommendations progressively from the later part of 2024.
Changes to legislation will also be made.
One of NTUC’s calls for platform workers has been to improve protection for platform workers.
NTUC said that even though platform workers are self-employed persons (SEPs), they are subjected to a high degree of control by platform companies.
One overarching recommendation by the committee is to require platform companies that exert significant management control over platform workers to provide them with certain basic protections.
The committee said that platform workers have less control than typical SEPs over their work in determining prices and working conditions, albeit more so than employees.
Examples of factors used to assess whether platform companies exert significant management control include whether companies can effectively determine or set upper limits on price and remuneration and whether companies control and direct work performance.
The committee added platform workers should therefore receive some level of basic protection laid out in the recommendations.
However, it said that the protections should accommodate the views of both platform workers and platform companies, the extent and scope of protections, and the pace of implementation.
NTUC also has been calling for sufficient medical and injury coverage for platform workers.
NTUC said platform workers are vulnerable as they cannot claim for work injuries under the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA).
National Taxi Association (NTA), National Private Hire Vehicles Association (NPHVA) and National Delivery Champions Association (NDCA) Advisor Yeo Wan Ling has also repeatedly said that delivery riders are vulnerable to skids and falls, especially during wet weather or when they rush to meet delivery timings.
One of the recommendations accepted by the Government is for platform companies to provide the same scope and level of work injury compensation as employees’ entitlement under WICA.
The scope of coverage should consist of medical expenses, compensation for income loss when issued medical or hospitalisation leave, and lump sum compensation for permanent disability or death.
Sector-specific definitions will also be determined when a platform worker is considered “at work”.
In representation, the committee recommends that platform workers be given the right to seek formal representation through a new representation framework.
The new framework will cover how a representative body can seek a mandate to represent platform workers, the issues the representative body can negotiate with platform companies, and the dispute resolution process to resolve disagreements between parties.
The committee recognises that there are other work-related issues that platform workers are concerned about, such as earnings, dispute resolution, contractual terms and benefits, workplace safety and future work prospects.
NTUC has also been calling for representation for platform workers. As platform workers are not classified as employees, NTUC and its associations do not have the same legislative powers as trade unions to represent platform workers.
Legislative changes will be made to enable platform workers’ right to formal representation.
In response to the recommendation, NTUC said: “We are heartened by the recommendations by the Advisory Committee, which recognise that platform workers have a fundamental right to representation.
“The formation of the Tripartite Workgroup (TWG) on Representation of Platform Workers in August this year, which NTUC is a member of, provides a platform for stakeholders to agree on workers’ representation and to set in place an enhanced framework that will close the imbalance between platforms and platform workers.”
Dr Koh said that the TWG is deliberating on the exact details.
He added: “We hope that by sometime next year, the TWG will conclude the recommendations so that we can incorporate it into the overall recommendations from this advisory committee.”
Another recommendation accepted by the Government is to align the CPF contribution rates of platform companies and platform workers with that of employers and employees.
While it will be mandatory for platform workers below 30 years old, older cohorts 30 and above can opt into the full CPF contribution regime.
The implementation will be phased in, with increases to CPF contributions over five years, unless significant economic disruption warrants a longer timeline.
NTUC has called and said it was ready to provide support during the transition period when CPF contribution is mandatory to mitigate its impact on platform workers’ take-home pay.
Ms Yeo said: “The roll-out of the recommendations is a significant step forward in advancing the protection of platform workers, and we are pleased with the progress made.
“Nonetheless, more work lies ahead to operationalise the recommendations. We are committed to ensuring that these are fair and are not at the expense of our workers’ earnings. Our associations will monitor the upcoming implementation of recommendations and continue engaging our platform workers to ensure that their concerns and queries are addressed.”
