KUALA LUMPUR: All 180,000 Grab Malaysia drivers now have free social security coverage, says Steven Sim.
The Human Resources Minister said that the ehailing and phailing platform operator Grab Malaysia has come forward to pay the balance 10% of the cost for their 180,000 drivers nationwide.
The government had initially sponsored 90% of their Social Security Organisation (Socso) contributions.
“This 10% by Grab amounted to about RM4.2mil. This means all Grab drivers get free social security coverage under Socso this year,” said Sim.
He said this during his opening speech at the International Social Security Association (ISSA) Technical Seminar at the World Trade Centre here Tuesday (Aug 27).
Sim said that such efforts by employers of gig workers do much to protect their social security.
The minister further said it is high time that the social security of gig workers was enshrined in the laws as economies now run on the latest technology but the protection for such workers are far outdated.
“In March this year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tasked our Ministry to create a new Gig Workers Law for a better protection of gig workers.
“The Ministry has just completed a Bill-drafting workshop this month and an early framework of the proposed Act has been produced.
“The new law will have four main pillars: definition of a gig worker or a platform worker; minimum compensation in the form of earning for phailing and ehailing workers; grievance mechanism; and social security protection especially in terms of social insurance and pension.
“In the coming months, the Human Resources Ministry will conduct further stakeholders consultation with other ministries and agencies, representatives from workers union and gig workers associations, representatives from employers and platform operators, and other interest groups on the new bill.
“The government aims to table this historic bill in Parliament by the end of this year.
“There are still gaps for sure, but this represents Malaysia’s first holistic effort to ensure decent work and protection for gig workers which made up about 1.1 million out of the 3 million self-employed in this country,” said Sim.
Last July, the government stated that a bill related to the welfare of gig workers was expected to be tabled for its first reading at the Third Meeting of the Third Session of the 15th Parliament in October.
This was decided at a meeting of the Supreme Committee on the Establishment of the Malaysian Gig Economy Commission.
The enactment of this act is necessary as only about 250,000 out of the 1.16 million gig workers in the country contribute to the Socso.
