Canberra gig economy workers beg government to pass minimum wage

The calls come as food delivery companies investigate whether a motorcyclist who died in a crash on Sydney's roads overnight was working for their platforms.

Several Canberra ride-share and food delivery workers fronted a Senate inquiry into the Albanese government's industrial relations omnibus bill on Friday.

If passed, Labor's "closing loopholes" bill would give the Fair Work Commission the power to set minimum pay and protection against "unfair deactivation" for "employee-like" workers on apps like Uber and Doordash.

Abdollah Askari, who started working as a delivery driver while studying in Canberra, said Deliveroo paid workers a $10 fixed rate per order, or gave them the option to get at least $7.50 plus extra for the distance travelled. He chose to switch to the latter.

But Mr Askari said that after six months, the minimum payment dropped to $6 per order, adding that he was only paid $4 for any additional deliveries that the app bundled into the same trip.

"They played whatever they could," he said of the companies.

Another worker told the inquiry that he hadn't slept more than four hours a night in two years, sometimes working up to 80 hours a week to pay his bills.

Workers also spoke about their inability to fairly appeal being deactivated, warning that delivery drivers would risk their safety to make deliveries within a 20-minute window to keep their place on the app.

"Sometimes I have been stuck in a traffic jam and have received a call from the gig company telling me that I need to go quicker. The delays hurt us more than they hurt anyone else," said Helen You, who worked as a ride share and food delivery driver.

"No one should be paid below the minimum wage. It's unsafe. Some food delivery riders have died rushing through the streets. We have to ask ourselves what is the price of life?"

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has agreed to amend the proposed laws to address platforms' concerns and gain their support. Changes will include requiring the Fair Work Commission to consult with platforms before setting minimum conditions.

Appearing before the Senate Committee on Friday, representatives from Menulog, Doordash and Uber welcomed the government's concessions, but said more needed to be done.

Doordash Australia general manager Rebecca Burrows said the company wanted to see Fair Work's ability to set minimum standards to be constrained, adding that the Commission should not be able to set penalty rates or minimum engagement periods for workers.

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Ms Burrows said that the bill in its current form would result in "significant negative impacts for workers, local businesses and consumers".

"It places Dashers on the path to being employees in everything but name, introduces considerable ambiguity for platforms and workers, and increases costs for consumers during a cost of living crisis," she said.

M Burrows said that the platform was currently investigating whether the Sydney delivery driver who died overnight was working for the app. The Guardian has reported that Uber is also investigating whether the driver was using UberEats.

The government's "closing loopholes" package has been in the spotlight this week, after crossbench senators David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie split off and successfully passed several less contentious parts of the bill in the Senate to Labor's ire.

The senate passed four private senators' bills on Thursday that pulled out reforms from Labor's package relating to ACT first responders with PTSD, domestic violence, deadly silica-related diseases, and eligibility for redundancy payments.

Minister Burke described the decision to split off the legislation as "strange", and said the government was committed to passing the package in full "as soon as possible".

But the crossbench senators are urging the Albanese government to pass the four reforms through the House of Representatives in order to deliver changes for workers by Christmas, with Senator Lambie arguing that any decision otherwise would be "really, really stupid".