Steps to have a body to represent gig workers

A new work group made up of representatives from the Government, labour movement and industry players will put their minds to how cabbies, private-hire car drivers and freelance delivery workers here can be better represented during negotiations with their respective platforms.

Meeting for the first time on Tuesday, the Tripartite Workgroup on Representation for Platform Workers agreed to propose a framework for a representative body that would have the mandate to represent platform workers collectively.

They will also work on the scope of issues that can be negotiated between the body and a platform provider, and propose a dispute management framework.

These were matters being considered by the Advisory Committee on Platform Workers, which was set up by the Ministry of Manpower in September last year to study how to better protect workers who rely on online platforms.

Calling it "new terrain", the advisory committee said on Tuesday that the new work group was formed to look at the issue of representation, an area where the tripartite partners have expertise, in greater detail.

While there are cabby, private-hire car driver and freelance deliveryman associations that are affiliated with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), the workers are not entitled to formal union representation as they are not considered employees.

Senior Minister of State for Manpower Koh Poh Koon, who is adviser to both the advisory committee and the new work group, has said that platform workers lack avenues to voice concerns, and they have expressed the hope that unions could assist them in the event of a dispute.

To address this, the advisory committee has been considering suggestions such as allowing unions here to represent platform workers, or establishing industrywide norms through tripartite discussions or an independent body.

National Arts Council chairman Goh Swee Chen, who chairs the advisory committee, said in a statement on Tuesday that the new tripartite work group mirrored Singapore's "unique model of tripartism", and that its members will work together to propose a balanced and sustainable industrial relations framework.

While the advisory committee will present its recommendations on how to better protect platform workers to the Government later this year, the new work group will complete its work only next year.

Chaired by the Ministry of Manpower's deputy secretary for workforce Poon Hong Yuen, NTUC deputy secretary-general Cham Hui Fong and Singapore National Employers Federation executive director Sim Gim Guan, the work group also includes executives from ComfortDelGro, Grab, Lalamove and foodpanda - representing the taxi, ride-hailing, goods delivery and food delivery sectors, respectively.