Page 11 - Voice and representation of platform driver in VietNam

CHAPTER 1: Work platforms - an overview 5

consultation of social partners that would run for Impacts of COVID-19 on ride-hailing platforms
six weeks. 13
The ride-hailing platforms across the world were hit
hard by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the application
• Spain: in late February 2021, the Ministry of Labour of lock-down measures. The number of trips in the
of Spain committed to giving a maximum of three United States for Uber has fallen to 70 percent of
months to platforms to incorporate distributors the pre-pandemic level (Hawkins, 2021). In Southeast
as salaried employees. 14
Asia, Grab laid-off around 360 employees or almost 5
percent of its headcount, after slashing discretionary
In other countries, governments have stepped up spending in the first half of 2020. Grab also reported
19
efforts to extend social security benefits to gig workers. that its ride-hailing drivers saw their incomes decrease
For example: by about a double-digit percentage in April 2020,
compared to October 2019. However, by September
20
• India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman 2020, its turnover recovered by 95 percent of the
proposed in the annual budget to extend social pre-pandemic level with the surge of food delivery
security benefits to gig workers. 15 services. Grab, Uber and Lyft observed an influx of new
driver requests mainly from those who were laid-off,
• Australia’s Labour Party proposed a plan furloughed or small merchants who lost income during
of reforms to improve job security and provide the pandemic.
21
minimum pay to those in insecure work, gig
workers included. 16 In Vietnam, platform drivers and riders claimed that their
income in 2020 declined by 30-50 percent compared
• The French Minister of Labour, Elisabeth to that in 2019 (Interviews with platform drivers,
Borne, entrusted three personalities with a December 2020-March 2021). At the same time, the
mission on the social and legal status of the self- ride-hailing platforms interviewed also reported a
employed working for web platforms (Uber, Uber notable increase of new driver requests during 2020.
Eats or Deliveroo). 17 However, the platforms have intentionally slowed the
recruitment process as “the market demand is low
• The Danish Chamber of Commerce and 3F so we want to ensure that the existing drivers have
Transport has concluded a nationwide collective sufficient orders” (Interview with the representative of
agreement for food delivery services. 18 Grab Vietnam, March 2021).

In 2019, the ILO’s Global Commission on the Future of
Work called for the ‘development of an international
governance system for digital labour platforms (and
their clients) to respect certain minimum rights and
protections’ (ILO 2019, p. 13). It could set minimum
standards as well as develop the infrastructure
necessary for facilitating payments to social security
systems, and it could also establish a representative
board to adjudicate disputes between platforms, clients
and workers.

13 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_21_656
14 https://wageindicator.org/labour-laws/platformeconomy/rights-of-platform-workers
15 https://indianexpress.com/article/india/budget-2021-esic-other-social-security-safety-nets-to-cover-gig-economy-workers-7170725/
16 https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/10/anthony-albanese-promises-more-gig-workers-portable-annual-sick-and-long-
service-leave
17 https://objectifaquitaine.latribune.fr/business/2021-01-27/travailleurs-independants-la-feuille-de-route-de-la-mission-sur-les-plateformes-
numeriques-871610.html
18 https://fagbladet3f.dk/artikel/danes-can-now-order-takeaways-clean-conscience#:~:text=%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%
80%8B%E2%80%8B,first%20to%20sign%20the%20agreement.
19 https://www.reuters.com/article/grab-results-idINKBN2770YV
20 https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/28/how-grab-adapted-after-covid-19-hit-its-ride-hailing-business/
21 Ibid.

Voice and representation of platform drivers in Vietnam