A historic deal could transform Australia's gig economy, with the country's two largest on-demand delivery platforms agreeing to minimum pay rates and providing wide-ranging improvements and protections for riders and drivers.
The agreement struck between the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and Uber Eats and DoorDash followed years of campaigning by workers and the union.
Minimum safety net pay rates would put a floor beneath what have been wildly variable earnings for delivery workers, who have often taken home far less than Australia's minimum wage under current pay arrangements, which see them paid per delivery, not for time worked.
The development represents a substantial win for the TWU, which has argued the lack of minimum conditions has pushed down working standards for employees in industries beyond those it covers.
And Melbourne delivery driver Eric Ireland, who says he earns between $22 and $25 an hour before on-road costs, is pleased.
"It's going to make a huge difference," he said as he picked up orders.
"Especially for the down times when you've got to the restaurant and you're waiting for the order.
"It will make it more relaxing and less frustrating."
Uber Eats and DoorDash have previously railed against the imposition of minimum conditions and warned it would massively increase costs for consumers.
"Gig workers have campaigned for years for a better industry and, for the first time in the world, there could soon be a minimum floor that represents a life-changing increase to their pay," Michael Kaine, national secretary of the TWU, said in a joint media statement from the three parties.
"After constructive discussions with Uber Eats and DoorDash, this is a significant step towards a fairer gig economy."
The deal worked out between the union and the dominant players will now be jointly submitted to the industrial umpire, the Fair Work Commission.
Some of the benefits include:
- Dispute resolution processes
- Accident insurance paid for by the platforms
- The right to be represented by a union
The companies welcomed the deal.
"Delivery workers keep Australia moving, helping busy households and supporting small businesses," said Simon Rossi, vice-president of DoorDash in the Asia Pacific.
"This proposal shows we can work together to lift standards and still enable the flexibility people rely on, under the government's new laws."
The federal government has made significant changes to workplaces in recent years, including the "right to disconnect" and a positive duty to prevent sexual harassment, meaning businesses have to actively prevent, not passively react, to the issue.
The gig economy has been an outlier while continuing to grow through an increase in customer demand, the scale of operators and technological innovation.
Companies have resisted regulating delivery workers as staff, and have sought changes to the law to allow them to create quasi-employees.
This deal, if ratified, could become the standard for other forms of gig-based work.
"Uber Eats has long supported sensible and modern reforms that strengthen protections and benefits for delivery people, while maintaining the flexibility that is central to gig work," said Ed Kitchen, managing director for Uber Eats Australia and New Zealand.
"We believe fair standards and flexibility should not be mutually exclusive."
Recently, Menulog joined the list of failed delivery operators in Australia, with its collapse coming after that of Foodora and Deliveroo.
'A fair day's pay'
Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth stood with delivery drivers at Parliament House when announcing the deal, saying "for too long they have not been getting minimum standards", which other workers enjoy.
In the last term of parliament, the government passed laws to allow and encourage workers to sit down with unions and employers to thrash out minimum standards.
"Our laws that we put in place very much encourage both a company's and those that work for those companies to sit down and to have a discussion about how to have some minimum standards in this country," she said.
"Minimum standards are so important because they provide enough money for people to actually get by, and of course provide a fair day's pay for a fair day's work."
The deal still has to be approved by the industrial umpire.
It does not provide a minimum "wage" in the same way as a worker agreeing to a four-hour shift would understand it.
University of Sydney senior lecturer and DECRA Fellow at the University of Sydney Business School in the Discipline of Work and Organisational Studies, Alex Veen, said it was more complex than that.
He told my colleague Emilia Terzon that, based on the proposed agreement, there was an important difference between "engaged" and "non-engaged" time.
"Workers are only paid that minimum hourly rate over the hours that they are performing deliveries," he said.
"It will still likely have an upward cost on prices of these services but will be more restricted than a scenario where workers are earning an actual hourly rate — platforms for engaged period were likely already paying around these rates."
It has already been noted that the deal does not include penalty rates, such as for working late at night.
