First Meeting of the Advisory Committee on Platform Workers

• The Advisory Committee on Platform Workers (“Advisory Committee”) met for the first time today. Chaired by Ms Goh Swee Chen, Chairperson of the Institute for Human Resource Professionals, the Advisory Committee brings together representatives from the Government, Labour Movement, industry and academia. Please see Annex A for composition of the Advisory Committee.

• The formation of this Advisory Committee was announced by Minister for Manpower, Dr Tan See Leng, after the National Day Rally 2021. It will look into strengthening protections for self-employed persons who work for online platforms, specifically delivery persons, private-hire car drivers, and taxi drivers.

• At the first meeting, the Advisory Committee noted the lack of basic job protections due to the nature of platform work, and decided on three priority areas to ensure a fairer and more balanced relationship between platforms and platform workers:

• a. Improving retirement and housing adequacy

As self-employed persons, platform workers contribute about 8% - 10.5% of their income to their MediSave¹ while platform operators currently do not make CPF contributions for their platform workers. The Advisory Committee will explore ways to help platform workers save up for their retirement and housing needs.

• b. Ensuring adequate financial protection in case of work injury

As platform workers are often on the road, they are at greater risk of accidents and injury. The Advisory Committee will explore how platform workers can be better protected financially if they are injured at work.

• c. Closing the gap in bargaining power

As platform workers are not employees, they are not able to form unions. Thus, they have no access to unions’ collective bargaining and dispute resolution mechanisms. The Advisory Committee will look into ways to strengthen the bargaining power of platform workers, taking into account their unique employment circumstances.

• The Advisory Committee recognises that these are complex issues with multiple trade-offs. It will consult and engage platforms and platform workers as part of its work, which is expected to be completed by the second half of 2022.

[1] For more information on MediSave contribution rates for Self-Employed Persons,

Annex A

Composition of Advisory Committee on Platform Workers (as of 15 Sep 2021)

Advisor
Dr Koh Poh Koon
Senior Minister of State for Health and Manpower

Chairperson
Ms Goh Swee Chen
Chairperson, Institute for Human Resource Professionals

Vice-Chairperson
Professor Danny Quah
Dean and Li Ka Shing Professor in Economics, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

Members

Industry

• Mr Sim Gim Guan, Executive Director, Singapore National Employers Federation
• Mr Lam Yi Young, Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Business Federation
• Mr Shaikh Ismail, Director, MOHH Entities Technology Services, Integrated Health Information Systems
• Dr Leslie Teo, Managing Director, Data and Strategic Transformation, Great Eastern Life

Labour Movement

• Mr Ang Hin Kee, Advisor to National Taxi Association (NTA) & National Private Hire Vehicles Association (NPHVA)
• Ms Yeo Wan Ling, Advisor to NTA and NPHVA
• Ms Jean See Jin Li, Executive Secretary to NPHVA, and Director, NTUC Freelancers and Self-Employed Unit (U FSE)

Academia

• Professor Hoon Hian Teck, Dean, Singapore Management University School of Economics
• Associate Professor Jessica Pan, Associate Professor of Economics, National University of Singapore

Government
 
• Mr Poon Hong Yuen, Deputy Secretary (Workforce), Ministry of Manpower
• Mr Jeremy Yap, Deputy Chief Executive (Public Transport, Policy and Planning), Land Transport Authority
• Mr Adrian Chua, Deputy Secretary (Industry), Ministry of Trade and Industry