MANILA, Philippines — E-commerce and tech companies in the Philippines have benefited from the gig economy but those who actually work in it need better mechanisms to protect them from exploitation, unions and workers' associations said in a unified labor agenda that includes digital platform and freelance workers.
E-commerce sales in the Philippines reached $17 billion (around P938.5 billion) in 2020, according to a US Department of Commerce report that also estimated sales to grow 17% by 2025. Despite that, the people that handle these sales — including couriers and drivers for app-based delivery services — often cannot enjoy even the basic labor rights recognized in other sectors, unions said.
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Protecting digital platform workers is included in the 15-Point Labor Agenda that 45 trade unions and workers' groups developed with the help of the International Labor Organization and released in late 2022. The Labor Agenda includes recommendations for the welfare of workers in the informal sector as well as for overseas Filipino workers.
"The misclassification of platform workers, particularly those in the ride-hail and food delivery services, as independent contractors deny them enjoyment of legislated labor rights," the unions said.
Employer-employee relationship
The unions are urging Congress for legislation that would presume the existence of an employment relationship and regularity of employment for digital platform workers.
They said delivery app Foodpanda's removal of seven riders from its platform "upon learning that the riders were starting to discuss a 'no show' protest action against the company" showed the existence of that relationship. The National Labor Relations Commission in the Davao region ordered Foodpanda to pay the dismissed riders P2.2 million in back wages and separation pay and P222,346 in attorney's fees.
The Supreme Court has also ordered shopping app Lazada to reinstate five "illegally dismissed" riders after it ruled that they were regular workers entitled to backpay and benefits.
The unions said the government should make social security like insurance more accessible to digital workers, noting that "in many countries, the platform company pays insurance premiums for private injury compensation insurance covering a platform worker."
Proposed legislation to regulate motorcycle platform services include provisions on insurance and on holding the app firm liable for injuries and damage in case of accidents, but the bills are still pending at the committee level.
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Protection for freelancers, remote workers
The unions are also demanding passage of a law that would protect "freelance workers and other workers in the digital economy" by making written contracts mandatory and that would ensure recognition of workers' labor rights and standards even in the absence of a contract. A grievance mechanism should also be in place and they said digital workers should be able to participate "in decision-making on matters that affect their working lives."
The unions said that protection for digital workers should also extend to employees in the formal sector who have shifted to remote or work-from-home arrangements. They said that while remote work has made employment more flexible, it has also brought problems "such as intense employer surveillance that compromises the privacy of employees, health issues resulting from the lack of ergonomic equipment and tools at home."
Bigger tech companies have provided employees with allowances to set up their home offices and subsidies for electricity and internet costs but for many employees working remotely, work from home has mostly meant being expected to always be on call and lack of overtime pay because they are just at home anyway.
Typical gender roles has also meant that women are often expected to balance office work and domestic chores while the remote work has also made it more difficult to organize workers.
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Council for digital workers' concerns
The unions said that several countries have set up structures for dialogues — South Korea has an Committee on the Digital Transformation and Future of Work while Singapore has the Advisory Committee on Platform Workers Council — among digital workers, employers and government agencies. The panels are tasked with coming up with recommendations on fairer contracts, social and financial protections and on dispute settlement.
"The trade unions propose the establishment of a similar council or committee in the Philippines," the Labor Agenda reads.
The ILO High-Level Tripartite Mission delegation will be in the the Philippines next week to look into labor conditions in the country. The delegation will seek input from the government and from the business community as well as from workers' organizations.
"Of course, the government has its own perspective on the state of workers in the country. On the other hand, workers also need to submit their own reports even if these may be contrary to the government report, and we have to prove that there are labor violations," Jerome Adonis, secretary general of labor alliance Kilusang Mayo Uno, said in a breifing earlier this month about the ILO visit.
KMU is among the 45 unions and workers' associations that worked on the 15-Point Labor Agenda. — Jonathan de Santos
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