Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said while the government believes in a competitive free market, they could not afford to sacrifice the welfare of workers.
Last night, Syed Saddiq said he will raise the issue with the Cabinet after he held a dialogue session with Foodpanda riders from across the country. More than a hundred of them gathered at his house.
He disputed Foodpanda’s claim that most deliverymen, except for those in Johor, had agreed to the scheme, saying riders from Penang and Negeri Sembilan had also protested against it.
“For the long term, the Cabinet has also decided for the ministries of youth and sports, human resources and domestic trade and consumer affairs to form a special task force to further study the issue of the gig economy.
“Many young people work as riders full-time or part-time. They need to receive full protection to add to their income,” he said. “We need to be responsible to ensure their future is ensured.”
In a separate statement earlier today, Human Resources Minister M Kula Segaran said his ministry had met Foodpanda’s managing director Sayantan Das and head of marketing Fabian Emanuel, who said the company will monitor the new payment scheme before deciding on reverting to the previous one.
He added that the ministry had been conducting consultations with stakeholders in the gig economy to look into amending the law to include who could be defined as an employee.
“This will be brought to the Cabinet for deliberation.”
It was reported that the new payment scheme, which came into effect yesterday, abolishes paying riders per hour but increases their pay for every order from RM4.50 to RM7.
The old payment scheme paid riders RM4 per hour with an additional pay of between RM3 and RM5 per order, based on the riders’ performance.
The human resources ministry has promised a win-win situation for both Foodpanda and their riders.
Yesterday, more than 200 freelance Foodpanda riders staged protests at two locations against the new payment scheme.
One group gathered at the company’s headquarters at Southgate Cheras. Another group gathered at Padang Bandaran in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, for six hours from 8am.