Digital platform workers need legal framework for better life: experts

Most of the digital platforms in Bangladesh do not fulfil the five principles of Fairwork in the gig economy – fair pay, fair conditions, fair contracts, fair management, and fair representation. 

The rapidly growing workforce needs to be recognised in the legal framework for a better life, said experts at an international seminar on the digital platform-based economy on Wednesday.

The platform economy comprises a distinctly new set of economic relations that depend on the Internet, computation, and data.

The seminar was organised at a city hotel by DataSense at iSocial, a pioneer research institution for the digital economy, in association with Fairwork Foundation at Oxford Internet Institute, UK, and Berlin Institute for Social Science, Germany. 

Digital platform companies operating in the areas of ride-hailing, food delivery, parcel delivery, grocery delivery and on-demand home services in Bangladesh are rarely having satisfactory scores in Fairwork surveys over recent years despite the growth in the sectors.  

Even though only a few including Uber, Pathao, Foodpanda, Hellotask, Sheba and Chaldal showed some improvement, the sector needs to walk a long way, according to the speakers at the seminar.

First of all, the labour law needs to recognise platform workers, which other countries have done, suggested the speakers.

The event featured presentations and panel discussions by local and international experts, tech entrepreneurs, and government officials. 

DataSense at iSocial Chief Imaginator Ananya Raihan said, "Collaborative efforts will help us achieve our aim towards a more equitable and sustainable future for the platform economy," he added. 

Oxford Internet Institute researcher Murali Shanmugavelan, "It is solidarity with workers, together we prosper. Let's keep the discussion going!"