For years, we’ve been hearing about how platform gig workers lack the job protections that ordinary employees enjoy. But there’s good news — the introduction of a new bill setting out protections for platform gig workers means that platform gig workers will soon be protected as well.
Still confused? Fret not — here’s everything you need to know about the new bill.
Why Platform Gig Workers Currently Aren’t Protected in the Same Way “Employees” Are
Platform gig workers are all around us, from the Grab drivers who make sure we get to the office on time, to the food delivery riders who bring us a warm bowl of soup on a rainy day.
According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM)’s labour force report released in January this year, there were up to 70,500 platform gig workers in 2023 — that’s a lot of people.
Yet, these platform gig workers are not considered “employees” of the platforms they work for. Instead, they’re considered “self-employed persons”.
This distinction is important — since platform gig workers are not considered “employees”, they’re not covered by job protections that “employees” enjoy.
Most of us, from servers at an F&B establishment to office workers at big-shot CBD firms, enjoy job protections in law — but only because we are considered “employees”. These job protections include all sorts of things from work injury compensation to Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions (whether you like it or not).
On the flip side, our favourite platform gig workers do not enjoy these sorts of protections since they’re considered “self-employed persons” rather than “employees”. As a result, the companies that these platform gig workers work for, by law, are not obligated to make CPF contributions for their workers, nor are the companies obligated to make compensation when their workers get injured during work.
So, even though these platform gig workers have employee-like relationships with the platforms they work for, they do not have the right to basic protections that ordinary employees enjoy.
Who does the New Platform Workers Bill Cover?
Indeed, there have been strides made in platform gig worker protections, such as the NTUC Care Fund (Work Injury Relief) scheme introduced last year, which supports platform gig workers who suffer from work injuries by providing them with $250 worth of NTUC FairPrice vouchers.
However, such efforts do not come close to the level of job protections that ordinary employees have — legal ones, which set out a proper framework for job protections. That’s why the topic of job protections for platform gig workers has been around for years.
But with the new Platform Workers Bill tabled in Parliament on 6 August, it appears that platform gig workers might finally be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The bill is expected to kick in sometime in the second half of 2024 after it is debated at the next available sitting of Parliament.
For now, the bill will cover platform workers providing delivery and ride-hailing services. This group of workers will be known in law as “platform workers”, which sits as a distinct category from “employees” and “self-employed persons”.
Carving out this new category of workers means that although platform gig workers will not enjoy all protections that “employees” have, they’ll still enjoy more protections than “self-employed persons” do.
Needless to say, this bill is advocated strongly by NTUC, which has always been fighting for platform workers’ rights.
What Protections does the New Platform Workers Bill Entail?
The million-dollar question, however, is this — exactly what sort of protections will the bill introduce?
The protection measures which will be introduced can be broadly categorised into three types — housing and retirement, work injury, and representation.
First, the housing and retirement measures mainly have to do with CPF. This entails aligning the CPF contribution rates for platform gig workers and platform operators to those of ordinary employees and employers — a 20% contribution to be made by “employees” aged 55 and below, and 17% for their employers.
This is compared to the present situation, where platform gig workers are required to contribute up to 10.5% of their net trade income to their CPF MediSave account, while their platform companies are not obligated to make any CPF contributions at all.
Of course, there are more nitty-gritty details to this proposed change. For instance, the employee CPF payment of 20% (which is nearly twice that which platform gig workers currently have to contribute) is mandatory only for those who are below 30 when the changes kick in. Others can choose to opt in. The bill also proposes for platform gig workers’ mandatory contribution rates to increase progressively over five years.
As to how this proposed change to CPF contribution rates will eventually be structured, we’ll have to wait and see.
Second, the work injury measures mainly entail requiring platform companies to provide the same level of work injury insurance which “employees” currently get under the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA).
Currently, injury insurance coverage for platform gig workers is not uniform across platforms, simply because there is no stipulated level of work injury insurance that platform companies are required to provide for its platform gig workers.
Third, on representation-related measures. Currently, since platform gig workers are not considered “employees”, they aren’t able to form unions.
While the Platform Workers Bill still won’t allow platform gig workers to be able to form unions, the bill will allow these workers to join representative bodies with powers similar to those of trade unions.
For instance, there are currently three industry associations which represent platform gig workers — the National Private Hire Vehicles Association, the National Taxi Association, and the National Delivery Champions Association.
Should the new Platform Workers Bill be passed, these associations will be better able to negotiate collectively for platform gig workers, better represent them in disputes, and provide them with better support services, according to NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng.
If you’d like to find out more about the new Platform Workers Bill, you can watch this video here:
This article was first published on Goody Feed and written in collaboration with NTUC.
