PETALING JAYA: Umno Youth has urged the government to recognise e-hailing drivers and parcel couriers as employees under the Employment Act 1955 and implement other reforms to benefit part-time workers.
Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, welcoming a government announcement today to develop the “gig economy”, said there were now more than 700,000 such part-time workers in Malaysia.
He said a task force set up by Umno Youth in collaboration with the Malaysian Trades Union Congress and representatives from e-hailing and parcel courier unions had come up with several reform proposals.
Recognition of these workers as employees would offer them protection and rights under the Employment Act 1955 as well as other relevant laws, Asyraf said.
The move comes two months after a former Grab driver, Loh Guet Ching failed to obtain a judicial review for the right to be heard before the Industrial Court for unfair dismissal. Grab argued that drivers were not employees.
Asyraf said the task force also called for a regulatory body to be set up to establish a set of rules and requirements for these workers.
The government must also partner with these workers, he said, to ensure they are offered the best possible social protection from bodies like the Employee Provident Fund and Perkeso.
With the 2022 national budget to be tabled later this year, Asyraf proposed that special assistance be offered to workers in the sector.
The task force also urged service providers to ensure job stability for their riders by putting a freeze on suspensions and terminations during the pandemic period.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob told the Dewan Rakyat that the government would be working to establish an ecosystem to support the “gig economy”.
The measures would be part of the government’s strategies for economic development under the 12th Malaysia Plan, which was tabled today. - FMT
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