Hong Kong authorities are looking into non-legislative means to strengthen protections for delivery workers, a labour official has said.
Addressing the Legislative Council’s (LegCo) manpower panel on Monday, Assistant Commissioner for Labour Raymond Liang said that the government supported non-legislative solutions to bolster protections for the city’s delivery workers.
“We have been following this direction, and we are very supportive of it,” Liang told lawmaker Lam Chun-sing, chair of the Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions.
Lam had asked Liang whether the authorities could “firmly encourage” companies to provide better accident insurance coverage. The lawmaker is calling for the creation of a third legal category recognising the hybrid status of delivery workers.
However, delivery workers themselves are split on whether to seek better protections through legislative means.
According to survey findings presented at the LegCo meeting, more than 36 per cent of delivery workers supported a non-legally binding approach, while over 34 per cent supported legislation.
Flexibility and protections
Delivery workers do not enjoy the same labour protections that full-time employees do, as Hong Kong law stipulates that delivery workers are considered to be self-employed contractors.
The legal ambiguity of delivery workers’ employment status stems from flexible work arrangements that allow them to sign on and off whenever they like, Undersecretary for Labour and Welfare Ho Kai-ming said during the LegCo meeting on Monday.
Ho added that the government would have to study further how to ensure that delivery workers retain that flexibility while strengthening accident insurance coverage. He also said that they would formulate a “way forward” within a year.
But the fact that workers want flexibility does not mean they should not enjoy legal protections granted to employees, the Riders’ Rights Concern Group said in a statement shortly after the LegCo meeting.
Meanwhile, other lawmakers on the panel slammed the authorities over a separate survey released last week, saying the results were “stating the obvious,” only proving what people already knew.
The survey, conducted by the Census and Statistics Department, laid out findings on delivery workers’ income and working hours, as well as whether they relied on making deliveries as their main income source.
The concern group criticised the survey, saying it had neglected ethnic minority delivery workers, who tend to work full-time.
Underestimating that figure could create the false impression that fewer, less rigorous regulations were needed, they added.
The government’s survey estimated there were 12,900 delivery workers in the city, without specifying the ethnic make-up.
The rights group also said the report lacked analysis, for instance, between working hours and income.
Two weeks ago, delivery platform Deliveroo said it was pulling out of the Hong Kong market next month.
According to the concern group, the move may result in further labour exploitation owing to the food delivery duopoly it leaves behind.
Apart from Deliveroo, foodpanda and Keeta are currently serving the local market.
