Page 15 - Voice and representation of platform driver in VietNam
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CHAPTER 2: Defining the relationship of platforms and drivers    9





            the car-drivers (Figure 5). In the strike against Grab by   Second, the rate for each trip is completely determined
            bike-riders in December 2020, one of the key demands   by  the  platforms,  based  on  the  traffic  density  and
            of platform workers was that the company should sign   availability of drivers in the area, among other factors.
            labour contracts and recognise them as employees. 30  According  to  the  drivers,  the  rates  were  sometimes
                                                              fixed so low they were unable to cover fuel expenses.
            Figure  5:  What  is  your  relationship  with  the  ride-hailing   However, they could not decline such orders out of fear
            platform company? (%) 31                          of being disciplined. Three continuous refusals of orders
                                                              result in deactivation of the driver’s app for one day.
            Source: Survey of platform drivers and riders in Vietnam
   Figure 5: What is your relationship with the ride-hailing platform company?
            (Car-drivers = 81; bike-riders= 274)              Third,  the  platforms  flexibly  and  unilaterally  adjust
                                                              the  bonus  target  and  rate for drivers. Each platform
                          Car-drivers  Bike-riders
                                                              provides a bonus system, whereby drivers get a cash
               91.36                                          gift or priority in order allocation if a targeted number
                     83.58                                    of trips or bonus points is reached. However, the bonus
                                                              target is frequently increased whereas the gift value has
                                                              reduced over the past few years, resulting in a number
                                                              of strikes by the apps’ drivers (see Table 1, Chapter 3).
                                  40.15      43.21            As the manager of a platform company argued in such
                                                 31.39        a strike in 2016: “the company holds the right to flexibly
                              22.22
                                                              adjust the bonus system in line with our competitive
                                                              strategy. The driver-partners have all the right to decide
                                                              upon their working time or whether or not to continue
                                                                              33
             Business partnership  Employment  Using platform only,  with our platform”.
                              relationship  no relationship
                                                              Finally, the platforms unilaterally adopt complicated
                                                              scoring systems to determine the allocation of orders
            Economic relationship                             to partners, which according to the drivers and riders,
 Figure 6: Role of platform companies in determining the income and working conditions of platform
                                                              were not necessarily fair and transparent. The score of
            The business model of ride-hailing platforms is to serve
               drivers and riders (Ranking of importance 1-5)
            as intermediaries for users and drivers to encounter,   a driver-partner is based on users’ satisfaction ratings
            while driver-partners must prepare and maintain their   and  the  number  of  trips  completed  within  a  month.
            vehicles,  pay  for  any  registration  and  transportation   For  instance,  a  car-driver  will  achieve  the  highest
            fees  as  well  as  fuel   Other working conditions  ranking (Gold) if s/he completes at least 450 trips in the
                        Income on  their  own.  Still,  the  platform
            companies  play  a  significant  role  in  determining  the   previous month, which means that s/he will be among
                                                                     4.13
            income of drivers because of four reasons:        the most prioritised in allocation of orders. However, if
                                      4.03
 3.84  3.95                3.96                 3.75       3.76 the next month, the driver is not able to complete the
            First,  the  platform  companies  unilaterally  fixes  the   sufficient number of trips, its ranking will drop and its
                 3.22
                                                                         3.14
            profit-sharing  rate  with  driver-partners.  According  to   priority in order allocation will be affected accordingly.
            the surveyed drivers, before the profit-sharing rate was   In other words, this system encourages drivers to work
                                                    2.76
                    2.69
 2.59     2.56 adjusted, they would receive an email from the platform   frequently  with  a  full-time  commitment  rather  than
                                         2.59
                               2.54
                                                              2.42
            company informing of the new rate. Yet, they were not   taking into account their seniority and time served with
            able to provide feedback or negotiate the changes. A   a company as per a traditional human resources system.
            bike-rider  told us:                              Drivers  who  have  made  long-term  commitments  to
                    32
                                                              platforms find this system unfair: “The old drivers like
                                                              us have worked hard for years and brought profits to
                 We all received an email from the company,   the company, but we receive no incentives at all. If I
             stating that the sharing rate is going to increase. Of   get sick for a week, my ranking will drop and I will not
             course  we  disagreed  because  the  sharing  rate  has   get as many orders as before and my income will be
                                                              affected”. There are also rumours among drivers/riders
                                      Go Viet
                             Grab
                 Part-time
 Total  Full-time become  too  high,  much  higher  than  that  in  other   Bike riders  Car drivers
                                                   Be
             [ride-hailing platform] companies. But we could not   about manipulation of the order-allocation system of a
             give feedback. No one is going to listen. We may be   platform: “A few years ago, in a forum I heard that if a
             deactivated from the app.                        rider pays VND3 million per month, he will get as many
                                                              orders as he wants”. 34
            30  The bike-riders on strike sent their petition to the Hanoi Federation of Labour. This strike will be discussed further in page 28.
            31  Note that the respondents can choose more than one option in this question.
            32  All riders and drivers participating in the survey and in-depth interviews requested anonymity.
            33  http://tamlongvang.laodong.com.vn/kinh-te/tai-xe-uber-dinh-cong-phan-doi-chinh-sach-moi-tai-anh-hay-tai-a-510501.bld
            34  We were not able to verify this claim. According to the interviewed riders, the operators who took bribes from riders were removed by the
                platform company.
                                                                         Voice and representation of platform drivers in Vietnam
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