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Gig worker welfare should be left to market: Ministries
Gig workers around the world, especially those in Europe, have been granted more safety nets this year following either landmark court rulings or regulatory changes.
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Thousands of ride-hailing app drivers jostle to receive basic necessities such as rice and eggs in front of in front of the Malang City Hall building, East Java, on April, 23, 2020. Malang was a red zone for the Covid-19 corona virus epidemic, with many in the gig economy struggling to earn enough to support their families. (JP/Aman Rochman)
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wo ministries have turned down calls to tighten regulations over gig workers’ welfare, resisting a global trend to better protect such workers, whose numbers are growing by the day with the proliferation of tech companies.
Top officials from the Manpower Ministry and the Information and Communications Ministry said on Thursday that the Indonesian government was concerned that regulatory tightening would restrain the growth of the country’s rapidly growing digital economy.
The officials, speaking at a Gadjah Mada University (UGM) webinar, said they were “aware of” and “monitoring” gig workers’ issues, but maintained that a laissez faire approach sufficed to protect the workers’ well-being.
In the same webinar, an UGM lecturer and Online Driver Association (ADO) chairman urged the government to enforce weekly working hour limits, regional minimum wages (UMR) and mandatory worker insurance, among others regulations, for gig workers.
Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, Informatics Application director general at the Communications ministry, reasoned that gig workers unhappy with one company could move to a competitor, thus forcing the companies to improve their appeal, including by offering better welfare.
“As long as there is no monopoly, let the market decide,” he said during the webinar.
Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah said the government would continuously evaluate tech companies’ working terms to improve the gig workers’ bargaining position, but also reaffirmed that stricter regulations should not be implemented.
