Tada drivers to get more training options, financial support under new pact

SINGAPORE – Platform workers are getting a boost in training opportunities and financial support with the inking of a pact on Nov 29 between private-hire car service operator Tada and two associations that champion their welfare, job and wage prospects.

Under a memorandum of understanding, the National Private Hire Vehicles Association (NPHVA) and the National Delivery Champions Association (NDCA) will work with Tada to select courses in customer service, safe driving and personal branding for drivers.

The associations, which are NTUC affiliates, will also hold more open conversations on issues the drivers face, as well as support each other in engaging the drivers.

Tada will subsidise a year’s worth of NTUC membership, costing $117 each, for 600 new drivers who complete 200 trips in their first month as well under the MOU.

Tada regional general manager Jonathan Chua, NPHVA executive secretary Raven Lee and NDCA executive secretary Jean See signed the document at Tada Station, the platform’s service centre for driver partners in Midview City in Sin Ming.

The MOU also sets out other areas of collaboration which all parties agree to look into, such as fair practices pertaining to driver partners’ welfare, earning capabilities and establishing a framework for management of disputes and grievances.

It comes ahead of formal legal recognition and protection of platform workers in the second half of 2024, including through a new body that will begin its work in representing platform workers.

In November 2022, all 12 recommendations by the Advisory Committee on Platform Workers were accepted by the Government.

The Tripartite Workgroup on Representation of Platform Workers, set up in August 2022 at the suggestion of the advisory committee, subsequently mooted in July 2023 the formation of the representative body, which was also accepted by the Government.

It is the second MOU the NPHVA and NDCA have signed with a platform operator, following the first with Grab in August 2023.

In a speech at the event, NTUC deputy secretary-general Desmond Tan said Tada’s move further supports platform workers beyond what the upcoming legislation covers, showing how progressive it is as a platform.

Tada chief executive Sean Kim said the Government’s initiative to provide further benefits for platform workers resonates with the company, which tries to minimise fees for drivers to ensure that they earn as large a cut as possible.

Apart from its pledges in the MOU, the firm will separately set aside about $100,000 to provide education support for drivers’ children, he said.

“We’re trying to take care of their next generation,” he said of those drivers whose earnings might not be sufficient to fully cover what their children need.

The Tada Gear Up Education Support Programme will give $200 in Popular bookstore vouchers to 200 drivers, and defray $70 a month of tuition fees at Mavis Tutorial Centre for 10 months for another 100 drivers, subject to eligibility conditions.

Mr Muhammad Iskandar Mohammad Samsudin, 42, a private-hire driver of eight years who is married to an educator and has two sons aged 13 and 16, welcomed the education support and courses.

He said his operating costs rose by over 10 per cent, yet takings declined by over 40 per cent due to lower rider demand than before the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, he suggested that courses to help drivers develop mental wellness and resilience be introduced to help drivers like him more.

He also called for insurance schemes for drivers signing longer car leases of one to two years, which would bring down overheads, compared with daily rentals.

This would allay the concerns he has heard from other drivers who are, he said, “so scared... (about) how they are going to pay back that two-year contract bond or break the bond, if something happens to them”.