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Saturday, August 13, 2022 Vol. 17 No. 309
They practically ‘took the Covid bullet’ for the public, but platform riders experience a certain level of abuse and exploitation, says a study by Fairwork.
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By Lorenz S. Marasigan
ILIPINO platform workers—or those employed by digital apps that serve as middle men between customers and a service—have been widely hailed for their indispensable role in the pandemic, helping people surmount lockdown restrictions by bringing them most of the daily essentials like food, water, medicine, groceries, documents, and even feel-good treats for the Covid-weary, like plants. The business models for the digital platforms have rapidly evolved in the first two years of the pandemic, as people gave feedback on how to improve services, and how to treat kuya—the rider who’s frontliner of the platform—better. However, for all their best intentions and efforts, the platform companies have had to deal with the impact of the pandemic, which gouged out economies and businesses worldwide. Sure, they provided badly needed jobs and income opportunities for thousands displaced since 2020; sure, they brought households most of their needs. However, it’s not a perfect world and, as it turns out, many platform workers experienced exploitation and dangerous working conditions, according to a study conducted by the Fairwork Project of the University of Oxford. According to the study, nine digital platforms in the Philippines had generally low performance of five key fairness metrics set by Fairwork. These five principles are: Fair Pay, Fair Conditions, Fair Contracts, Fair Management, and Fair Representation. Each principle corresponds to two points to achieve a perfect fairness score of 10. Fairwork collected the data
SORIANO: “We say here that platform labor does appear as an opportunity for workers, but it also tells us the broader labor conditions.” FAIRWORK
through three methods: Data research, worker interviews and manager interviews. Out of the nine digital platforms, GrabCar and GrabExpress/ GrabFood ranked the highest, but scoring a measly 3 out of 10 points; Angkas and Lalamove trailed at the second place with 2 points out of 10. Brozo, Foodpanda, Joyride, TokTok and Transportify all scored 0 out of 10. “The scores that we revealed to you show that exploitation and dangerous working conditions are not just accidents; they are choices made by platform companies alongside governments and its in-
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ability to come up with effective policies as well as us in general, the users to the platform,” Fairwork Philippines Principal Investigator Cheryll Soriano said. Soriano, a professor at the De La Salle University’s Department of Communication, added that the scores represent a “generally low performance overall with some variation.” Fairwork estimates that the Philippines has “close to half a million platform workers” registered.
Below minimum wage
FAIRWORK’S research showed that no platform studied ensured that workers earn at least the daily minimum wage of P537 per day after work-related costs. Soriano explained why it reached this conclusion: Fairwork considered the amount earned by the worker for their work, as well as the work-related costs and waiting time between jobs. These include the cost of gas, tools, maintenance and labor, among many other factors. “Although some workers that work for long hours in a day can meet the minimum wage threshold at a gross income level, many fall below it when the cost of taskspecific equipment they need for performing the tasks and other work-related costs are factored in,” Soriano said. Furthermore, Fairwork could not find evidence that platforms ensure workers earn at least the local living wage of P710. “We say here that platform labor does appear as an opportunity for workers, but it also tells us the broader labor conditions,” she said.
No safety net
THE research also found that only four platforms, GrabCar, GrabFood/Express, Angkas and Lala move have employed certain practices to protect workers from risks associated with their jobs. Some examples of good practices included providing safety
training and emergency buttons embedded in the app, free accident insurance, different forms of Covid-19 responses, protection from algorithmic miscalculations and protection from passenger scams, Soriano explained. The latter surfaced with several high-profile cases where some criminals booked orders of huge value, but gave wrong addresses, leaving riders holding the proverbial empty bag. In some cases, the public, touched by their plight as their stories went viral, pitched in to help the riders cover their costs. At the height of one such viral case, a netizen remarked that riders deserve public appreciation because, in a manner of speaking, “they took the Covid bullet for us” by going everywhere to deliver what people needed badly, the high risk of infections notwithstanding. The study found that benefits beyond direct task-specific risks such as educational and calamity assistance and sick pay are not available for platform workers, providing them with no “safety net to safeguard workers in cases of inability to work due to illness or an accident.” Fairwork also found that some platform contracts “can be onerous, difficult to understand, and may not always be communicated in a comprehensible language to workers.”
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forms should be nudged to publicly articulate policies supporting equality, diversity and inclusion and a commitment to implementing fair algorithms, as none of the platforms evaluated could prove either of these living wages,” the report said. Lastly, Fairwork found that no platform “assured freedom of association and the expression of collective worker voice.” Soriano said Fairwork intends to have the study submitted to congressional hearings to further advocate for the rights of platform workers.
Lack of local context
GRAB Philippines, which operates GrabCar, GrabExpress and GrabFood, said it welcomes the Fairwork report, as it reveals opportunities towards building a better platform economy in the Philippines. However, Grab also believes that while the study had provided valid points, it lacked local context. “Unlike the European platform work model—which Fair-
work adapted in their study, the state of platform work in the Philippines is quite unique: there are several local nuances and practices prevailing between local platforms and their workers—allowing both parties to work harmoniously towards their common goals,” Grab said. Foodpanda, for its part, echoed Grab’s statement, while noting that its Fairwork scores were low because it failed to provide the requested documents on time. “While we respect the score given by Fairwork based on their own findings, we have also observed that the criteria or the principles used do not fall squarely within the Philippine context, considering the legislation and regulations being applied with regards to freelancers. It is our hope that any evaluation of the labor practices of digital platforms such as Foodpanda Philippines would consider laws implemented in this jurisdiction,” Foodpanda said. Continued on A2
4 have clear terms
HOWEVER, the research noted, GrabCar, GrabFood/Express, Angkas and Lalamove have clear and accessible terms and conditions. Furthermore, Fairwork found that only two platforms, GrabCar and GrabFood/Express, have precise communication mechanisms for workers to meaningfully appeal low ratings, payment issues, deactivations, and other penalties and disciplinary actions, providing workers greater recourse opportunities. “We could not find sufficient evidence to award this point to the other platforms. In addition, plat-
n JAPAN 0.4171 n UK 67.6838 n HK 7.0725 n CHINA 8.2245 n SINGAPORE 40.4949 n AUSTRALIA 39.4032 n EU 57.2769 n KOREA 0.0425 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.7695
Source: BSP (August 12, 2022)