Business has been picking up for ridesharing and online food-delivery companies with the pandemic subsiding and economy making a turnaround. But unfortunately the workers who toil at the field level do not receive the treatment they deserve. "Fairwork Bangladesh ratings 2021: Labour standards in the gig economy", a study --- first of its kind---funded by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft finds that the online platforms treat their workers unfairly. A total of 10 popular gig economy platforms surveyed gave a poor account of themselves so far as their labour practices are concerned. Not a single ridesharing and food delivery company ensures wages conforming to the minimum threshold and the least said about job security and support they need while on duty the better. Only one little known company could show documentary proof that it paid its workers a minimum wage of Tk8,100 each month but evidently this cannot be considered a decent wage standard by any means.
What is particularly galling is that of the 103 ridesharing workers interviewed, 16 claimed they worked at a loss because of work-related costs, high platform fees and the intermediaries' share they have to part with. Management of such remote platform economy and working conditions are so poor that none of the 10 companies could secure more than one point out of 10 on offer for labour practices by them. Workers have to sign up with the terms and conditions detailed in their mobile apps but in return they enjoy no rights to various benefits labour laws guarantee. Only one company received a point for maintaining the principle. No company secured any point on fair management, the study reveals. In other words, the field-level workers who actually serve the companies in defiance of elements---rain and extreme heat ---and against all odds including chaotic Dhaka traffic, are in dire straits.
Why this could happen is quite clear. Here is a different kind of business depending on online platforms. The way e-commerce proliferated with no order and government regulations and fraudsters could take undue advantage of a lack of rules and regulations, developments in these two particular areas also have followed suit. Although, the companies involved in these areas are not known to have resorted to business malpractices, they are yet to get their acts together so far as profit sharing with workers is concerned.
Ridesharing has already flourished to take a large slice of the transport sector worth US$259 million representing 23 per cent of it and predicted to grow further to the tune of $1.0 billion within the next five years. Currently, it has an annual turnover of $100 million. So, this sub-sector must have well-defined labour practices with job security and required on-duty physical and financial support and protection guaranteed for the workers. Evaly and E-orange fracas should point to immediate framing of guidelines and then a legal framework for their operation so that business can run sustainably, guaranteeing all the stakeholders' interests and rights.
