Join us at 2 pm CET on November 30, 2023, to officially introduce the Living Tariff tool in Kenya, Pakistan, and Indonesia.
A panel of global and local experts will discuss the tool's relevance and future potential to create a more just gig economy for all.
As a joint partnership of WageIndicator and GIZ, the Living Tariff tool will help calculate fair wages for platform-based gig workers.
We are happy to welcome a new group of interns to our team.
Throughout the semester, fourteen students from FLAME University in Pune, India, will dive into the gig economy and gain skills in online research, news collection, and insight presentation.
As part of this group, they will be responsible for supporting the WageIndicator Platform Economy project by researching documentation on gig workers’ actions, legislative initiatives, court cases, and union activities for 21 countries across the globe.
Their work will be invaluable in keeping our database and Gigpedia site up to date.
Another piece of news comes from the University of Namibia (UNAM), which is in touch with WageIndicator to offer remote internships to their students.
Two of them will work with us until the end of November, get the chance to learn more about the gig economy and create some visual content to share on Gigpedia.
Thanks for being part of the Wageindicator team, and good luck to everyone!
WHAT’S NEW ON GIGPEDIA
- Fairwork recommendations for the EU Directive on Platform Work. Fairwork proposes six key areas that must be addressed in the future Directive.
- What Rulings in Favour of Gig Workers Don’t Say. Look at what courts need to deal with when a platform leaves a country instead of hiring its workers as employees.
- A Level Playing Field for Gig Workers. Highlights from the WageIndicator’s latest webinar: what the gig labour market looks like nowadays and what the real impact of regulations, protests, cooperatives, and other good practices is when it comes to building a fairer platform economy.
Dear reader,
Searching for updates about different countries in the past two weeks, we’ve often read the words "pilot test" or "trial", to refer to new regime proposals in the gig economy.
Let’s start with Argentina.
The Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP) accused several companies, including Rappi and PedidosYa, of avoiding paying millions in contributions to their workers. According to the authority, the delivery people are employees, not self-employed workers.
Companies are reported to want to appeal since they'd be forced to leave the country if this initiative, or similar regulations, came into force. They claim it would be impossible for them to offer employment contracts and keep the app rates low at the same time. Glovo allegedly quit the Latin American market in 2020 for the same reasons.
In this context, as the final stretch of the race toward the presidential elections approaches, the Minister of Economy and candidate, Sergio Massa, advanced a series of measures like free access to Occupational Work Insurance (ART) as a sort of pilot test for a new special “regime”.
Other parties put down the proposal, affirming it is more similar to an electoral slogan than an honest public policy shaped to regulate the sector.
The Sumcra union (Sindicato Único de Conductores de Motos) celebrated the launch of free insurance, recognizing it as "a fundamental change" in daily work and praising the fact that "it is implemented at the national level."
On the contrary, SiTraRepA (Sindicato de Base de Trabajadores de Reparto por Aplicación) gave voice to drivers' and riders’ disappointment, who asked for recognition as dependent workers and full labor rights.
From Argentina, we need to fly to the Netherlands.
Whereas Uber Eats started a trial in partnership with staffing company Adecco to allow food couriers in seven cities to work via a temporary employment structure, Amsterdam councilor Sofyan Mbarki made news with his proposal to support a local taxi cooperative.
He took the Drivers Cooperative in New York City as an example and expressed his intentions to collaborate with entities like Amsterdam Commons Network committed to building a “community economy”. The cooperative would be part of a general package of 23 million euro to boost the local economy in the coming years.
Early doubts about the initiative concern whether the experience of the U.S. cooperative can be replicated in Amsterdam. As researcher Denise Kasparian stressed at our webinar “A Level Playing Field for Gig Workers”, the cooperative model in the platform economy is unlikely to be replicable. “We need to think of processes of adapting and not replicating,” she said.
Thomas de Groot of Commons Network explained it well to Het Parool: “The Drivers Cooperative did not start with a simple municipal subsidy but with countless investments from various organizations, funds, and investors. In the United States, there is a whole ecosystem for the community economy – that does not yet exist in Amsterdam.”
Others criticised creating a new “platform”, which, in substance, could damage the existing market.
In the meantime, speaking of Uber, Dutch delivery drivers laid down their work in protest against low pay; the reason seems to lie in some undefined errors in the pay system, which caused workers to be paid less than usual.
Despite everything, in the same days, Uber announced its return to profit after billions in losses last year.
Councilor Mbarki may be right when he says that the municipality should no longer roll out the red carpet for every international company that wants to come to Amsterdam, especially if such a business could be at the expense of local entrepreneurs.
Unfortunately, if you want to compete against Uber, you need a lot of money. Many gig workers still want to remain independent, according to Maurits Schönfeld, Uber’s general manager for Benelux.
Regarding platform workers and their status, no deal on the presumption of employment was achieved at the latest talks in Brussels between the Parliament, the Commission, and the Spanish presidency of the Council.
Legislators still have opposite views on the most debated issue of the European Platform Work Directive, which should come into force in 2024. In a letter addressed to the Council, the European Trade Union Confederation urged to reconsider the addition of a further step to the process for the recognition of the presumption of employment: to launch the presumption, workers would need to comply with three out of seven criteria, and this, without shifting the burden of the proof to platforms, and making the process even more complicated.
Workers, well represented by the eight couriers who rode their bikes from Paris to Brussels to deliver their demands, still await an actual proposal. The next trialogue negotiations are scheduled for November 28.
In conclusion, Uber should not be allowed to make the law in Europe, but in the meantime, it’s making money, and that seems to make a real difference now.
Have a nice day,
The WageIndicator Gig Team
Australia - Uber, DoorDash, and Menulog executives have been interrogated over driver deaths and safety during a senate inquiry examining the laws around the sector.
Did you know? The gender pay gap in the Australian gig economy increased by five percentage points during Covid-19.
France - The national disconnection of drivers and couriers under Intersyndicale Nationale VTC was called from November 19 to 27.
Italy - Former Uber Eats delivery workers rallied at the Labour Court in Milan to protest against the platform that left them jobless.
Nigeria - In December, Bolt Food will exit the Nigerian market for business reasons. The company said that it is working closely with its couriers to ensure a smooth transition during this process.
Report: The first Fairwork Peru report shows how none of the major platforms active in the country proved they could guarantee decent and fair employment. Only Cabify and Urbaner scored one point out of ten against the fair contract principle.
South Africa - Bolt is set to stop its food delivery services in South Africa in a bid to maximise overall efficiency.
Spain - Glovo has emailed its autonomous riders asking them to verify compliance with tax obligations within two weeks.
US - Uber and Lyft have agreed to pay New York drivers a 328 million dollar settlement after the state attorney general investigated a wage theft complaint charging that the companies collected certain taxes and fees from drivers rather than passengers.
Denmark - Immigration authorities in Denmark will allow Wolt couriers with EU passports to be considered company employees in the context of their registration as residents.
Hong Kong - Honk-Kong Taxi industry leaders urged the government to toughen up on illegal ride-hailing services after authorities backed lawmaker’s proposal to increase penalties.
India
- Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced that the government will work on a policy to provide social security to gig workers.
- Under the ‘Delhi Motor Vehicle Aggregator and Delivery Service Provider Scheme’, bike taxi aggregators can legally run their operations in Delhi if they are electrically operated. It also states that Delhi's entire vehicle fleet of aggregators, delivery service providers, and e-commerce entities needs to shift to electric by 2030.
Kenya
Bolt has been ordered to pay 1,000,008,000 Kenyan shillings ($662,743) to a driver accusing the company of breaching his data privacy and deactivating his account.
France - The Livreurs CGT group called for workers to protest throughout the country after a large number of delivery drivers went on strike in northern France for a week. Uber Eats introduced new pay conditions in early October.
India - As part of the #LowFareNoAir campaign, Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union members have agreed to boycott cab services if fares to the airport are too low.
Did you know? Ride-hailing platforms in Indonesia are pushing for EV fleets, but workers seem to prefer old vehicles. Battery issues, along with difficulties in transporting passengers, make electric bikes and motorbikes unsuitable for gig work.
Kenya - Digital taxi drivers and car owners have urged the government to refrain from renewing licenses of foreign taxing hailing apps Bolt and Uber due to non-compliance with regulations.
Portugal - Tired of struggling to have their demands met, Glovo couriers protested in Funchal against low kilometer fares.
South Africa
- Since Bolt introduced its Lite tier in Johannesburg, promoting the rental of tiny cars called Bajaj Qute, drivers with bigger cars claim they are losing business. Rides on Bajaj Qutes cost 18% less than the other tiers. Also, having these vehicles made drivers a target of vandalism, intimidation, and violence.
- The Western Cape E-Hailing Association planned a strike from November 14 to 16 in support of Uber, Bolt, and inDriver workers’ demands: the end of unfair deactivations, improved health safety for drivers, and a drop in commissions.
US - Drivers from an Amazon delivery station in California, fired after forming a union and negotiating a contract, have been on strike since June and have taken their strike at over 20 Amazon warehouses around the US.
China - Didi, China's largest ride-hailing company, reported its first quarterly profit since 2021.
Denmark - After a year in Denmark, Foodora is far from stopping investments.
Hungary - Foodora announced it would reduce its delivery prices by an average of 16% in response to inflationary price increases. The reduction will affect nearly 2,500 restaurant partners in Budapest.
India
- Dunzo's losses ballooned to Rs 1,802 crore in FY23, a 288 percent increase from the previous year.
- Regulatory filings showed that Zepto, the quick-commerce unicorn, has raised another 31 million dollars in an extended funding round.
Indonesia - Super app GoTo, which offers ride-hailing, e-commerce, and financial services, recorded a significant drop in losses from last year and said it would invest in market growth and cost-cutting measures.
Singapore - Gojek drivers cheered the cut in commission rates to be paid to the platform, though it could be the prelude to the company’s exit from the country.
South Africa - Uber is launching an electric-vehicle-only delivery service, allowing users to order same-day pickup and package delivery in an area.
US
- Lyft reported third-quarter revenue and profit surpassing estimates, but gross bookings growth was lower than that of larger rival Uber.
- Amazon drone delivery is a reality in Houston, Texas. However, the venture must face many hurdles, making drone delivery underwhelming thus far.
Did you know? Starting across the U.S., Uber will roll out a technology to identify customers who consistently give bad ratings or submit false complaints. Uber assures that allegations by those customers won’t be considered in drivers’ ratings or deactivation decisions.