Author: Bellon T
Date of Publication: 2020
Uber Technologies Inc. on Wednesday informed its California customers that it would switch to
providing estimates as opposed to fixed prices for its rides in response to a new law that makes it
harder to qualify its drivers as contractors. [View resource]
Uber stops upfront ride pricing in response to California worker law Read More »
Author: Gasa S.
Date of Publication: 2020
South African domestic workers have long been deprived of recognition as employees. The South
African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union and other activist organisations asked the
Constitutional Court to confirm a High Court ruling, which affirmed domestic workers’ rights. Eight
years after one of their own died at an employer’s home, the ConCourt hearing symbolised the
beginning of closure for the deceased’s daughter. [View resource]
Domestic Workers’ Union takes struggle for injury and death compensation toConCourt Read More »
Author: Alberto Barrio
Date of Publication: 2020
A brief essay describing a significant development in national labor law: legislative, judicial,
administrative. The importance of the development in domestic context should be explained; the
reasons for transnational interest might be suggested. [View resource]
Contradictory decisions on the employment status of platform workers in Spain. Read More »
Authors: Funda Ustek-Spilda, Richard Heeks, Mark Graham, Alessio Bertolini, NancySalem, Srujana
Katta, Sandy Fredman, Kelle Howson, Fabian Ferrari, Mounika Neerukonda, Pradyumna Taduri,
Adam Badger and Pablo Aguera Reneses.
Date of Publication: 2020
The report examines the impact of Covid-19 on gig workers. It’s key findings reflect the following:
Fair Pay: While it remains the most important for workers, we found little evidence of platforms
offering compensation for loss of income. Direct policies to increase pay were mostly advertised by
large multinational platforms, like Uber, but were often only available to a fraction of their
workforce. When government funding became available to gig workers in some countries, platforms
transferred the responsibility over to the governments. Fair conditions 1 (Prevention): More
platforms offered hygiene guidance and protective equipment to workers, especially since many of
these measures became compulsory by governments. ‘Contact-free services’ were also common but
more often oriented towards clients than workers. Fair Conditions 2 (Illness): Just over half of the
platforms surveyed were offering some form of sick pay policy. However, these often consisted of
flat-rate payments that in practice fall below the local minimum wage. Access to the schemes also
remains a contested issue. Where government financial relief was extended to gig workers,
platforms again shifted the responsibility to the state instead of offering extra relief measures. Fair
contracts: The normalisation of platforms offering (some form) of assistance to their workers during
the COVID-19 crisis suggests that the meaning of ‘independent contractor’ has begun to change. [View resource]
The gig economy and covid-19: Looking ahead Read More »
Authors: Thomas
Haipeter, Dominick Owczareck, Michele Faioli and Feliciano Ludicone.
Date of Publication: 2020
This report was produced as part of the ‘Don’t GIG up!’ project, co- funded by the Directorate-
General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission, and aimed at
improving expertise and knowledge on the role unions and social dialogue can play with regard to
the protection of gig workers. Running for 24 months (February 2018 – January 2020), the project
brings together unions and research centres to analyse features and challenges of the gig economy
in a set of selected countries, namely Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Sweden. More
precisely, the scope of the project is work carried out through labour platforms. At the onset of the
research, such platforms were divided into four groups according to their core activities, as per the
table below. [View resource]
‘Don’t GIG up!’ Report Read More »
Written by Darcy du Toit
Sooner or later, all pandemics are brought to an end. But, until then, they can cause huge damage to
society, as COVID-19 is showing day by day. And none are more at risk than non-standard or
“precarious” workers – casual workers, independent contractors, all those doing jobs without
security of employment and benefits, who generally fall outside the protection of labour law.
A petition by a civil society alliance is currently circulating calling on President Ramaphosa to extend
unemployment insurance benefits to precarious workers. This is just one form of protection which is
much needed by workers who are laid off on a no-work-no-pay basis because they don’t have fixed
jobs – though much else is needed to enable them to take other steps for combating the spread of
the disease, such as social distancing (in over-crowded conditions) or even washing hands (without
running water).
But government has begun to respond. A Notice was issued on 20 March in terms of section 6A of
the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) extending the protection of
the Act in significant ways. Among other things it provides that:
・ employers must pay workers’ wages for days of self-isolation recommended by registered
medical practitioners;
・ temporary total disablement will be paid for up to 30 days to workers diagnosed with
COVID-19 “and where the Compensation Fund has accepted liability”; and
・ medical aid shall be provided for up to 30 days in “all accepted cases of COVID-19”.
The snag lies in the quoted phrases. COIDA, like nearly all labour laws, applies only to “employees”
and not to those classified as “independent contractors”.Paradoxically, this avoidance of legal
regulation has become the norm in the most cutting-edge sectors of the economy as in the days of
the first industrial revolution before labour law existed. This has been an ongoing concern to labour
law stakeholders for a generation and will remain so until it is resolved.
But the Notice itself shows a possible way forward. It starts by classifying jobs into “very high”,
“high”, “medium” and “low exposure risk occupations”, and it does this without reference to the
classification of the person performing that job. In other words, an independent contractor
performing a high-risk job would at as much threatened as an employee, but would be unprotected.
This means that the costs arising from preventive measures, such as self-isolation, fall on the worker
and the worker alone. To those who are struggling to support families in a harsh economic
environment and who contract the virus, does this not create pressure to continue working for as
long as the symptoms can be suppressed or concealed?
The cruel irony of protecting only some of those who are bearing the brunt of the risk invites us to
look for an alternative reading of the Notice. Would it not be in accordance with the Constitution to
interpret the Notice as extending the same protection (as far as possible) to all workers who are
facing the same risk, and could any provision which states the opposite not be considered
unconstitutional?
This is, of course, restating the underlying issue which has arisen time and again in cases where
workers have challenged their classification as independent contractors – for example, Uber drivers.
The difference is that, this time, not just the right to fair labour practices but the right to life is at
stake. And it is not just the rights and interests of the worker versus those of the putative employer
but the interest of society in curbing the spread of the disease.
The underlying fault line will not be fixed without a systematic overhaul of the labour law system to
ensure that all workers’ rights are equally protected. The COVID-19 crisis is underlining that this is in
the public interest.
About the author: Darcy du Toit is an Emeritus Professor and former Dean of Law at the University
of the Western Cape.
COVID-19: Worker’s rights and the public interest Read More »
Authors: Roux A., Vilojen D., and Samson D.
Date of Publication: 2019
This report focuses on a sectoral analysis, the potential impact of skills development and emerging
trends in South Africa. Among its findings are that 4IR is a given; production could happen without
people through the substitutability of smart robots and artificial intelligence for human beings;
economic growth is not the panacea for job creation; and full-time employment may give way to less
formal, gig-economy arrangements. It also concludes that, if the country continues on its current
path, the economy and people may suffer greatly. [View resource]
Futures of work in South Africa Read More »
Date of Publication: 2019
On 8 April 2019 the High-Level Expert Group on the Impact of the Digital Transformation on EU
Labour Markets, comprising representatives from academia, civil society and industry, issued its final
report with recommendations including policy actions for the EU, Member States, businesses and
other stakeholders to shape the digital transformation of the world of work. These include proposals
for the development of a skilled workforce, new labour relations and a new social contract. [View resource]
The Impact of the Digital Transformation on EU Labour Markets Read More »
Author: Fisk C.
Date of Publication: 2019.
California, many other states, and the United States government, have laws imposing minimum
standards of employment (such as wages and hours), limited financial benefits for workers who
become unemployed or are injured in the course of employment, and benefits for employees after
retirement age or who become unable to work because of disability. Most of these laws define the
scope of their coverage by saying they apply to “employees.” Companies figured out that if they
reclassified their workforce as “independent contractors” they could avoid the considerable wage,
payroll tax, and other costs of complying with law. [View resource]
California is Poised to Expand Labour Protections for Workers Read More »
Author: Gilwad A.
Date of Publication: 2019
The author argues that uncritically embracing the World Economic Forum’s concept of 4IR
technologies having the potential to propel digitally-ready countries into a new age of economic
prosperity is distracting South Africa from the unfinished business of redressing inequality and
creating the preconditions for an inclusive digital economy. [View resource]
South Africa is caught in the global hype of the fourth industrial revolution Read More »
Engaged research, teaching and advocacy on law and policy to overcome barriers to decent work in a fast changing global environment.
Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville, Cape Town
centrow@uwc.ac.za
