The TWU will write to gig platforms including Uber and Hungry Panda calling for answers on whether several horrific fatalities and violent assaults of gig workers have been properly reported to regulators like SafeWork.
The TWU is aware of at least three recent gig worker fatalities: a motorbike crash where the worker's only living relative was not informed of his death until six weeks later, one in which a food delivery rider was hit by multiple cars including a police vehicle, and an incident involving a car crossing a median strip.
Three gig worker stabbings have also occurred over the past months, including a horrific stabbing of an Uber driver on the Gold Coast which may leave the worker paralysed, a screwdriver stabbing in Sydney and a violent assault of an Uber driver in Adelaide including being stabbed in the arm.
In the past, the TWU has had to report gig worker deaths to the regulator when companies failed to.
Using new laws passed by the Albanese government the TWU has applied to put in place better standards for food delivery workers on pay and conditions, and will soon put in an application for rideshare drivers. Fairer minimum standards will help ease the deadly pressures on gig workers to take risks on the road to earn enough money.
TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine:
"There has been a devastating flood of violent assaults and fatalities of gig workers recently which has hit the community hard.
"Just in the past few months we've had a family member not informed of his XX's death for a shocking six weeks, we've had an attack on a Gold Coast driver which might leave her paralysed for life, and several other horrific incidents.
"We know in the past that worker deaths and incidents have gone unreported to SafeWork because of narrow, arbitrary windows that define when someone is "working." This cannot keep happening.
"We need to see gig platforms take full accountability and confirm that they have properly reported the incidents to safety regulators so the right actions can be taken.
"More importantly we desperately need to get in place proper workers' compensation for when things go wrong, as well as decent standards on pay and conditions to ease pressures on gig workers to take risks on the road, work long hours and late nights to earn enough money."
NOTES
– 23 gig workers have been killed in Australia since 2017. The figure could be higher given some are never reported as workplace deaths.
– In 2021, the death of delivery rider Burak Doğan was not reported by Uber because despite him being logged into the app and receiving orders when he was killed, he didn't fit into the insurance scheme's prescribed 15-minute window following the completion of an order.
– In 2020, Hungry Panda failed to report the death of delivery rider Xiaojun Chen to SafeWork
