KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will be among the first few countries in the world to have legislation protecting gig workers, says Steven Sim.
The Human Resources Minister said the Gig Workers Bill will be tabled in the current Parliament session very soon.
“Barring any circumstances and with everything in order, I will bring the Bill to the Cabinet for final approval, and then present it in the Parliament in two weeks.
“We have been anticipating this draft since 2019.
“Finally, after various obstacles and challenges, we have the latest draft of the Gig Workers Act,” he said when met after chairing a town hall session about the Bill here yesterday.
Some 800 stakeholders, including e-hailing platform operators, riders and drivers attended the session.
Sim said the main components of the Bill includes the definition of gig workers, income, dispute resolution mechanisms and social protection.
“While the Social Security Organisation (Socso) contribution is one of the main focus of this Bill, we welcome the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to be a part of this initiative.
“However, I cannot speak on behalf of EPF, as having EPF in this new law would require amendments to the EPF Act.
“We would like to see this happen. This can be a good future direction to work on when the law is enacted,” he said.
Sim also called on all parties, including MPs from both sides of the political divide, to jointly approve the Bill.
“I hope all MPs will support this, as we have been discussing this since 2019,” he said.
The Gig Workers Bill, which was postponed to be tabled in Parliament last year, aims to protect gig workers, impose obligations on contractual entities, regulate terms and conditions of service agreements and establish mechanisms for dispute resolution.
Halo Delivery regional director Ariff Fadli lauded the Bill and its progress, and noted that gig workers’ social security is paramount.
“It’s good to see that we have some social protection from Socso now. But we also want to make sure the contribution, when made mandatory later, would not burden the workers.
“The nitty gritty of all aspects must be well thought of when drafting the Bill.
“I hope the government will do us right in introducing this new law to safeguard our interests and wellbeing,” he said.
An e-hailing driver who only wanted to be known as Ling said all full-time e-hailing drivers should have access to subsidised fuel when the government rationalises the subsidy for RON95 petrol later.
“There should also be provision to prevent operators from making drivers to force-accept jobs that are absurdly priced.
“Right now, if we reject such jobs, we will be punished with inactive hours, up to days or weeks, in the app.
“We should not be forced to accept jobs with fares that are too low to the extent of not even covering our costs,” he said.
