RIDE-HAILING and on-demand delivery workers in Singapore will be able to join representative bodies with similar powers to unions, under laws set to take effect from the second half of 2024.

On Wednesday (Jul 12), the government accepted an industry workgroup’s eight recommendations on allowing platform worker representative bodies to seek a legal mandate and negotiate with operators such as Grab, Foodpanda and ComfortDelGro (CDG).

This comes close to a year after the Tripartite Workgroup on Representation for Platform Workers (TWG) was set up to deliberate how to strengthen the negotiating power of platform workers, who numbered 88,400 last year.

Platform workers cannot form unions as they are self-employed. They are currently represented by three industry associations: the National Private Hire Vehicles Association (NPHVA), National Delivery Champions Association (NDCA) and National Taxi Association (NTA).

These associations have limited powers, as they lack the legislative frameworks and formal dispute resolution mechanisms that unions have.

The recommendations seek to provide platform workers with “an effective and practical way to organise themselves and negotiate for their interests”, including in cases where workers feel wrongly penalised, the TWG said in a 33-page report released on Wednesday.

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While noting that existing unions are a good reference point, the workgroup sought to provide sufficient flexibility “to keep up with the evolving nature of platform work” in its recommendations.

Legal mandate

Half the recommendations are about how a platform worker representative body can get a mandate. The workgroup has suggested two options with a preference for direct recognition, where platform operators recognise and agree to work with these bodies.

“Platform worker representative bodies and platform operators can at any time enter into a non-binding memorandum of understanding... This could thereafter culminate in direct recognition,” the TWG said.

The other option is for platform workers to vote on the mandate, via a secret ballot conducted electronically by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). For the vote to pass, at least 20 per cent of all eligible platform workers must vote in the ballot, and more than half of these must vote in favour.

This differs from secret ballots for unions, where more than 50 per cent of all workers that the union seeks to represent must vote in favour.

The 20 per cent quorum takes into account “the challenge of organising a mass of geographically dispersed and transient platform workers”, said the report.

Platform workers who are “very new” will not be allowed to vote. This is defined as those who signed up on the relevant platform three or fewer months before the operator was notified by the representative body of its intention to represent the workers.

“Inactive” workers – who did not take on any jobs on the platform in that same three-month period – will also be ineligible to vote.

Flexible scope, binding agreements

The law will not stipulate what platform worker representative bodies and platform operators can or cannot negotiate for, under the TWG’s recommendations. The workgroup suggested that they remain free to raise any matter for negotiation as long as both parties agree, with MOM conciliating if there are disagreements.

The TWG has drawn up guiding principles for negotiation, such as parties being “mutually committed” to operators’ business success and workers’ welfare. Another key principle is that platform operators need not divulge their proprietary information or negotiate on commercially-sensitive matters.

Explaining the rationale for the latter principle, the TWG’s co-chair Sim Gim Guan said: “Sometimes the negotiations were not easy, as platform operators are genuinely concerned about the impact on their business model.”

The principle is “an important landing point” based on the recognition that platform operators must thrive for platform workers to make a decent living, said Sim, who is executive director of the Singapore National Employers Federation.

The TWG also recommended that collective agreements will have to be certified by the Industrial Arbitration Court (IAC), to make them binding on both parties.

Any unresolved collective disputes can be surfaced to MOM for conciliation, with the IAC stepping in if this fails.

Singapore’s effort to boost platform worker representation follows recent moves to better protect this group: mandatory contributions to the Central Provident Fund savings scheme and work injury insurance aligned with employee standards.

Providing platform workers with a representative framework builds “a society with stronger safety nets and collective support, that will strengthen assurance for Singaporeans”, the TWG said.

On Wednesday, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) secretary-general Ng Chee Meng called the government’s acceptance of the recommendations a “significant milestone”.

“In what could be the first-in-the-world tripartite collaboration for platform workers, the implementation of this framework paves the way for NTUC and our affiliated associations to officially represent them,” he said.

Leaders of the NTA, NPHVA and NDCA likewise expressed support for the ability to enter into binding agreements with platform operators, as well as “clear processes and rules which will make it easier for us to obtain mandates”.

Goh Yong Wei, president of the NDCA, highlighted the need to balance workers’ and platforms’ interests.

“We cannot squeeze the platform operator until they close shop and move out of Singapore; there will be a lot of unemployment issues. So you have to be fair, everybody has to win,” said Goh, who is himself a ride-hailing and food delivery worker.

Spokespersons for Grab, Foodpanda, Lalamove and CDG said that they welcomed the new measures.

The TWG’s full recommendations:

Process for a platform worker representative body to obtain a mandate

• A platform worker representative body can obtain a mandate through direct recognition or secret ballot.

• All platform workers can vote in a secret ballot, except those who are very new or who are inactive.

• Voting will be done electronically and conducted by MOM.

• A platform worker representative body obtains the mandate when it has majority support from the platform workers who voted, subject to a 20 per cent quorum of eligible platform workers.

Scope of negotiations and formalising negotiated agreements

• Platform worker representative bodies and platform operators should be given the flexibility to determine areas for negotiation.

• Negotiations will be guided by a set of principles agreed by the TWG.

• A collective agreement must be certified at the IAC.

How disagreements between platform worker representative bodies and platform operators will be resolved

• Unresolved collective disputes can be surfaced to MOM for conciliation, and if conciliation fails, to the IAC for arbitration.