The recent deaths of five food delivery riders on Australian roads has brought into sharp focus the urgent need for better legal protections for on-demand gig workers in the road transport industry.
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A new report, Proposal for legal protections of on-demand gig workers in the road transport industry (PDF 852KB), calls for urgent federal legal protections for on-demand gig workers in the road transport industry to ensure they are safe and not exploited at work. It follows the death of five delivery riders on Australian roads last year.
The report, by researchers from the University of Technology Sydney, found there was extreme exploitation of food delivery riders, Uber and other ride-share drivers and more recently parcel deliverers, and inadequate regulation.
Merely broadening the definition of employment, or providing an expanded definition of worker, is not an adequate solution.
“We are seeing a sizeable and growing workforce who are largely designated as independent contractors by the digital labour platforms that hire them. These workers have no choice but to accept low pay rates – such as the equivalent of $7-$10 an hour for delivery riders – and unsafe work conditions,” said report co-author Dr Michael Rawling from UTS Law.
“Laws distinguishing between employees and independent contractors are outdated, and not an adequate method of determining which workers require minimum pay and conditions.
“There are alternative regulatory options outside of defining these workers as employees that are more effective and appropriate methods of regulation,” he said.
The report, commissioned by the Transport Education Audit Compliance Health Organisation (TEACHO), found that the Australian parliament needs to consider legislation providing for federal industrial tribunal powers to regulate this type of work.
It identifies the now repealed Road Safety Remuneration Act 2012 and the current Chapter 6 of the Industrial Relations Act (NSW) as best practice models of legal regulation, which could be used by policy makers tasked with providing a legal solution.
Chapter 6 provides for pay and conditions for road transport contractors who perform NSW local work. It has received bipartisan support in NSW for a number of decades.
Between 2012 and 2016 the Road Safety Remuneration Act supported the operation of a special federal tribunal empowered to address supply chain pressures on pay and safety in the road transport industry. Its abolition in 2016 means there is now a large gap in road transport industry regulation.
“Merely broadening the definition of employment, or providing an expanded definition of worker, is not an adequate solution,” said report co-author UTS Law Professor Joellen Riley.
“What is needed is a response that can be applied to classes of workers, like an industrial award, which would apply regardless of the legal relationship between the parties or the work status of the worker.”
Professor Reilly says the appropriate resulting regulatory regime needs to provide safe working conditions, adequate pay, job security, collective bargaining rights and adequate dispute resolution and enforcement for these workers.
“The current work arrangements are placing further pressure on pay rates and safety across the entire road transport industry, undercutting road transport businesses that provide adequate working conditions.
"The solution we propose in the report for road transport gig workers could also be adapted to other industries where vulnerable workers are engaged as contractors via digital platforms.
"Governments and parliaments must start leading with effective regulation of the gig economy rather than following the market with ineffective and piecemeal measures that endanger us all."
Read the report
Proposal for legal protections of on-demand gig workers in the road transport industry (PDF 852KB)