Uber, TWU strike deal to protect gig workers

Under a landmark agreement between Uber and the Transport Workers Union TWU, Gig economy workers could be given fair wages and guaranteed protections, and there will be a mechanism to resolve disputes and the creation of a collective body to represent rideshare and delivery drivers.

The agreement balanced the flexibility of gig work with greater protections for drivers, according to the managing director of Uber Australia.

He said that we're trying to improve the quality of independent work for rideshare drivers and online food delivery drivers.

Michael Kaine, a TWU spokesman, said gig workers had been a feature of the Australian economy since 2011.

Our laws are hopelessly out of date. If you're an employee and you're categorised as such, you get all the rights we've built up over the decades, he said.

But if you're an independent contractor, you're very dependent on the entity that's engaged you, all of a sudden you get no rights and conditions. The family of Hungry Panda driver Xiaojun Chen was awarded $830,000 in compensation this week after the 43-year-old was killed while working in Sydney in September 2020.

Mr Chen was one of seven food delivery drivers who died in 2020.

After their deaths, Kaine said there was a need for reform.

Gig economy workers are not entitled to benefits such as minimum wages, worker's compensation or sick leave because they are considered independent contractors rather than employees.

The Statement of Principles would see Uber and the TWU lobby the federal government to reform industrial relations law to enshrine protections for gig workers.

The union and rideshare giant will support the creation of an independent federal body that would enforce minimum earnings protections and conditions for all gig workers.

Dom Taylor, Uber's CEO, said he hoped that it will lead to reform better reflecting the needs of the gig economy.

He said that we have an archaic industrial relations system that creates a clear dichotomy between contractors and employees.

Flexibility needed to be traded off for things like benefits and protections, and we don't think that needs to be the case. He said it was about making sure that flexibility is a genuine choice for workers and not just a buzzword that used to rip people off.

If we can get to a place where we have a system that supports workers and there's still genuine choice, then we're getting the best of all worlds and we're modernising our system in a way that's going to serve us into the future. The new federal government and the NSW government have flagged the need for industrial relations reform to protect gig workers.