Welcome initiative for platform workers

Many platform workers stand to gain from the decision by the three major food-delivery companies here - Grab, Deliveroo and foodpanda - to set up an industry association to represent digital platforms. The move represents a welcome break from the typically cut-throat competition that drives e-commerce and online service platforms, whose fundamental interest lies in the often thin margins that determine their profitability and, ultimately, survivability. While commercial interests are understandable, they should not override the needs of the workers who make platform business possible in the first place. The gig economy encompasses a variety of people - from professionals whose skills command a premium on the job market, to delivery workers who are most vulnerable to market fluctuations.

Left to its own devices, the gig market might not be able to provide for the needs of the most vulnerable, thus transferring the burden of their livelihoods, home ownership and retirement needs to the taxpayer. But there is no reason why the taxpayer should have to support workers who are stranded, not because they are unwilling to work but because their paid work does not cover their basic needs. The move by the three companies comes ahead of possible changes to the law to give platform workers greater protection. Indeed, the Digital Platforms Industry Association, under which these companies are banding together, may be seen by some as a mechanism through which to protect their corporate interests too. But in Singapore's tripartite system, lobbying through a united front is unlikely to secure dividends. Platform businesses exist within a larger ecosystem in which gig work, like any other, is protected by the oversight of the Government. But the association is a welcome initiative for what it can do to improve the well-being of workers in the sector.