Australia: Platform economy couriers to receive hourly minimum wage and accident insurance

A new order in Australia will apply to platform economy couriers an hourly minimum wage of 31.3-32 Australian dollars (about 66-68 NIS), along with accident insurance and additional rights. The order, the result of negotiations lasting about two years between the workers' union and the platforms Uber Eats and DoorDash, will take effect on August 17 and benefit about 250,000 workers. It comes about two months after the approval of the ILO convention on platform workers' rights.

A new order in Australia will apply to couriers in the platform economy an hourly minimum wage of between 31.3 Australian dollars (about 66.3 shekels) and 32 Australian dollars (about 67.8 shekels), depending on the vehicle, and will also improve their working conditions. The general minimum wage in Australia stands at 26.44 Australian dollars (about 56 NIS). The order will take effect on August 17 and is expected, according to Reuters, to benefit about 250,000 workers. The order applies to workers defined in legal status as "quasi-employees," who perform deliveries of food, drinks, and supermarket goods via an app. According to the new order, these workers will receive the hourly minimum wage for the time from accepting the job until completing the delivery to the customer. They are not required to receive the minimum wage for every actual hour – but calculated over a 21-day period. The platforms will also be required to provide a "reasonable minimum level of coverage" for personal accident insurance, although according to Reuters the order did not specify a minimum coverage level. Workers will be required to insure their vehicles at their own expense. Additional rights that workers receive under the order are access to a feedback group, which will allow them to raise concerns and questions; a clearer procedure for dispute resolution; and the right to a period in which the worker chooses not to accept jobs (without pay). The order is the result of negotiations lasting almost two years between the Australian Transport Workers' Union and the two major platforms, Uber Eats and DoorDash, within the proceedings at the Fair Work Commission. In a joint statement released yesterday (Tuesday) by the union and the two major platforms, they said the new standards will provide an "industry-wide safety net for hundreds of thousands, while preserving the flexibility at the heart of on-demand work." The union's secretary, Michael Kaine, said the new standards are "world-leading." The order comes about two months after the International Labour Organization (ILO) decided to approve for the first time a convention on rights for platform economy workers. Countries that ratify the convention will commit to ensuring these workers rights such as the right to organize in workers' unions and conduct collective bargaining, the right to a safe and healthy work environment, and prevention of discrimination, violence, and harassment (including from customers). The legal status of platform economy workers is subject to legal and political dispute worldwide, and also in Israel. In the framework of the 'Volt case,' which has been heard in the labor court in Israel for years, a request by a courier for recognition of platform couriers as employees, and therefore entitled to minimum wage and social rights, was discussed.