Platform for protection

Editor's note: In this weekly feature China Daily gives voice to Asia and its people. The stories presented come mainly from the Asia News Network (ANN), of which China Daily is among its 20 leading titles.

Cabbies, private-hire drivers and freelance delivery workers who rely on online matching platforms for income will get better labor protection from Jan 1, 2025, after the Parliament of Singapore passed a landmark Bill on Sept 10 designating them as a distinct legal category in between employees and the self-employed.

Known collectively as platform workers, this 70,500-strong group will get greater levels of contributions to the Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings scheme, aligned with what employees and employers pay today.

Platform operators will also have to provide them with standardized work injury compensation insurance policies with the same level of coverage as employees.

In addition, platform workers, who cannot unionize under current laws, will be able to form representative bodies called platform work associations, with legal powers similar to those of trade unions.

This will allow them to negotiate and sign legally binding collective agreements with operators, and gain access to various avenues of redress, including the right to strike if the decision is considered and justified.

The culmination of a three-year process that began in 2021, the Platform Workers Bill received support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Over two days, 26 members of Parliament, or MPs, spoke in support of the law but raised a range of issues, with implementation details and the higher costs that will result from the stronger protection among key concerns.

Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Manpower Koh Poh Koon said Singapore is among the first in the world to provide statutory protection for platform workers as a distinct group.

Many other countries are grappling with this, given the heterogeneous and rapidly evolving nature of the sector, he noted.