Page 15 - Voice and representation of platform driver in VietNam

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