Riders group asks DOLE to formulate rules protecting the rights of gig workers

The riders’ group Kapatiran sa Dalawang Gulong (Kagulong) on Friday asked the Department of Labor and employment to start formulating, in consultation with riders/drivers, labor groups and other stakeholders, rules on digital based labor platform to protect the rights of gig workers and promote their better working conditions.

The call was made in view of the latest report (World Employment Outlook) published by the International Labor Organization (ILO) which placed the Philippines second to India in terms of volume of outsourced jobs performed by workers in digital labor platforms in developing countries.

Said outsourced jobs come mostly from Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“Our group is very much mindful of this development since many of our members are into this work or have been engaged with many of these digital platform jobs. Thus, we are aware of their stories, income opportunities, as well as the hazards of being self-employed and freelancers in the company-controlled platform,” said Kagulong in a statement sent to the media.

The ILO noted that app-based or online jobs could have increased during the pandemic when people seek available employment online. But having this kind of job, said the ILO exposes workers to substandard working conditions, such as having irregular work and income.

“Half of online platform workers earn less than US$2 per hour. In addition, some platforms have significant gender pay gaps,” ILO said, adding gig workers also suffer from lack of access to social protection, freedom of association and collective bargaining rights, as well as long and unpredictable working hours.

The ILO attributed these problems to the terms and service agreement of online job platforms, which it noted is “blurring the previously clear distinction between employees and the self-employed.”

Kagulong completely agrees with the ILO findings, saying that in one food delivery company, bookings, and dispatches are completely controlled forcing riders under time pressure to face road hazards. There is also a case now where an LGU requires self-employed drivers to apply for business permits before they can be allowed to hit the road and use the platform.

“There are mounting issues that need to be addressed in this rapidly growing industry and it is very disappointing to see workers in modern digital platforms perform jobs under substandard if not inhumane conditions,” lamented Kagulong.

The group said it is the duty of the government, specifically DOLE, to protect workers in this sector by coming up with rules defined through negotiations between labor and employers in contrast to the app-based rules imposed arbitrarily by industry owners.

Riders of Food Panda has brought their issues before the DOLE in November last year, but the management reportedly refuses to attend a scheduled conference.

Earlier this week Kagulong greeted with enthusiasm the British Supreme Court’s decision declaring Uber drivers as workers. The landmark decision has finally settled a legal battle between the giant ride hailing up and two of its workers who brought the issue before the court in 2016 on whether they should be treated as workers of the company or as self-employed.

According to a BBC news, the British Supreme Court considered several elements in its judgement:
1. Uber set the fare which meant that they dictated how much drivers could earn
2. Uber set the contract terms and drivers had no say in them
3. Request for rides is constrained by Uber who can penalise drivers if they reject too many rides
4. Uber monitors a driver's service through the star rating and has the capacity to terminate the relationship if after repeated warnings this does not improve

As an organized rights-based riding community, Kagulong has been receiving complaints from fellow riders working in different companies. Common among these complaints, similar to what the Court has resolved, is their imposed status as “independent contractors,” and the way hailing app exercises control over the performance of their jobs.

Kagulong called on riders/drivers from different companies to welcome this decision and organize themselves into a union or workers’ association to be able to defend their rights and secure better working conditions in the gig economy

Kagulong

26 February 2021

For a radical alternative to Duterte

Richard Heydarian argues (Leni and the ‘third way,’ July 10, 2018) that Vice President Leni Robredo should remake herself into a “third way” alternative ala Tony Blair of UK and Bill Clinton of the US. With Robredo declaring her intent to lead the opposition, the question of an alternative to Duterte is truly worth discussing and debating.

The so-called third way epitomized by Blair and Clinton has been described by critics as “neoliberalism with a human face” or “austerity lite.” In which case, Robredo already is third way, as she is the current leader of the Liberal Party that in its six years in power under Noynoy Aquino presided over pro-globalization policies in the guise of “public-private partnerships” and was exemplified by its affirmation of contractualization in the Philippine Airlines outsourcing dispute.

Robredo embodies a continuation of EDSA and thus of the epic failures of the elite democracy established after the Marcos dictatorship. In contrast, Duterte has made a popular career out of lambasting the EDSA democracy from the right. We believe a viable alternative to Duterte should come out of a radical critique of EDSA’s trapo democracy from the left.

Heydarian posits that a radical alternative to the status quo has been eclipsed by the hegemonic discourse of neoliberalism. Thus his espousal of Blairism and Clintonism. But it can be argued that Blair and Clinton’s swing to the right merely paved the way for a further shift and thus the rise of extremism of the UKIP and Trump. Blair and Clinton’s abandonment of the historic and traditional working class base of the Labour Party and the Democratic Party made them prey to demagoguery of right populists.

Heydarian likewise insists that socialism has been made passé by the rise of postmodernism. However, this is belied by the rise of Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders. In opposition to Blair and Clinton, Corbyn and Sanders have openly identified themselves as socialists and have championed radical platforms of reversing globalization. Corbyn has wrestled control of the Labour Party from third way acolytes and is poised to be the next Prime Minister if new elections were held. Sanders of course lost the primaries to Hillary Clinton through the undemocratic maneuverings of the Democratic Party machine but he would have beaten Trump in the election according to surveys.

Despite predictions of the end of history and the death of grand narratives, socialism is alive and kicking. The defeat of working class struggles heralded the birth of neoliberalism but discontent over the greed and barbarism of globalization is engendering renewed resistance. Majority of millennials in the US prefer socialism over capitalism. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America, just trounced in the primaries a high-ranking Democratic Party leader and is primed to become the youngest congresswoman in the next US elections.

In many countries, radical candidates not third way politicians are in ascendancy as the rivals to authoritarian leaders. Andrés Manuel López Obrador just won Mexico’s election on a progressive platform of change. In Europe, third way social democratic parties have collapsed and it is new radical left parties which are battling extreme right wing groups for political hegemony.

In the Philippines, more than 30 years of the EDSA regimes have exhausted the majority who remain mired in poverty and hopelessness, and even the middle and upper classes who are disillusioned at corruption and underdevelopment. Duterte has harvested the discontent at EDSA democracy and is trying to channel it into support for dictatorship. But after two years of broken promises, Duterte’s satisfaction ratings are down from excellent to good, especially among the urban masses who are reeling from endo and inflation. They are the constituency for a radical alternative to Duterte and the rotten system of the EDSA regimes.