With a labor contract and insurance, drivers will be more assured
Working as a full-time technology motorbike taxi driver in Hanoi, Mr. Ngo Minh Hoang (born in 1996, from Ninh Binh) earns about 15 million VND/month after 8-11 hours of driving each day. However, no labor contract makes him worried when sick or in accidents because just stopping driving, his income is immediately interrupted.
Driving technology cars is my main source of income. The accumulated money is not much, if I accidentally have an accident or get sick, it is very difficult to worry about medicine or incurred expenses" - Mr. Hoang shared.
From this reality, he hopes that technology car companies will have more policies to ensure the rights of drivers, especially those who drive full-time.
I hope Grab or other applications have insurance for drivers, especially full-time drivers" - Mr. Hoang said.
Mr. Nguyen Van Ha, 50 years old, still "plows" 12-14 hours on the road every day. Mr. Ha shared that on the surface, everyone who looks at him says the job is a freelance technology driver, if he likes to work, he works, if he likes to rest, he rests.
Every day when I turn on the application, I have to race with each ride, each discount coin to carry all kinds of money on my shoulders: gasoline money, rent, tuition for children, daily grocery money" - Mr. Ha said tiredly.
Mr. Ha said that thinking about the future, the thing that makes him most confused is that although he works hard every day, he does not have an official labor contract and is not considered a worker of the company. In the name of "partner" - Mr. Ha does not have social insurance (BHXH), and does not have a pension.
High risk" group for labor insecurity
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Le Quang Trung - former Deputy Director in charge of the Department of Employment - said that the technology driver team is mostly young, healthy people, of working age, they want and desire to sign labor contracts, enjoy social insurance, unemployment insurance (BHTN), health insurance (BHYT)... This is a very legitimate aspiration of workers when they are participating in business activities, providing services for social needs.
According to Mr. Trung, for employees to enjoy social insurance and health insurance policies... according to the provisions of the Law on Social Insurance and the Labor Code, they must sign a labor contract and have income from that contract.
Regulations in Article 13 of the 2019 Labor Code, labor contracts are agreements between employees and employers on the issue of paid employment, wages and ensuring labor safety. The current form of transaction between technology drivers and companies is mainly cooperation contracts. To sign labor contracts, it is necessary to ensure compliance with Article 13 of the 2019 Labor Code" - Mr. Trung said.
To give workers the opportunity to sign labor contracts, Mr. Trung proposed that functional agencies study in the direction that when issuing business licenses to units providing these services, consider including any clause to sign labor contracts between drivers and businesses/business organizations. Management from the business license issuance stage is management from the root.
If this can be done, technology drivers will become official regional workers. And when they become official regional workers, they will have many more benefits when working as well as when losing their jobs" - Mr. Trung said.
Mr. Le Quang Trung also pointed out 3 biggest obstacles currently causing difficulties in signing labor contracts between drivers and companies: regulations on labor contracts; determining whether employers/businesses are employers or not; paying salaries or sharing profits.
The key to harmonizing the current gap is if the two parties sign a labor contract, a contract clearly stipulating salary and income according to the agreement between the two parties, based on the operating results of each individual.
Mr. Trung also shared concerns when the work of technology drivers is directly related to labor safety issues. During the process of transporting goods and passengers on the road, these workers need to be guaranteed labor safety and need to be protected by social insurance policies.
They are a high-risk group in labor safety issues" - Mr. Trung affirmed.
Talking to PV of Lao Dong Newspaper, Lawyer Diep Nang Binh - Head of Tinh Thong Luat Law Office (Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association) - said that Clause 1, Article 13 of the 2019 Labor Code stipulates that even if the contract has a different name, if there is content about paid employment, salary and being managed, operated, and supervised by one party, it is still determined to be a labor contract. According to Lawyer Binh, cooperation contracts under the 2015 Civil Code are based on the principle that the parties are equal, cooperate and benefit together. However, in technology ride-hailing activities, platform businesses have a significant level of influence on drivers such as impact on fares, trip allocation, discount rates, bonus policies, operating conditions and handling of violations. Platforms can also lock and restrict accounts according to set conditions; customer payment cash flow usually passes through the platform before being distributed to drivers. Therefore, according to lawyer Binh, it is necessary to consider the actual nature of this relationship instead of just relying on the name of the contract. "The relationship between the platform and the driver has full signs of labor relations. Technology drivers are the weaker party and need to be protected by law" - lawyer Binh assessed. The 2024 Law on Social Insurance has expanded the scope of compulsory social insurance participation for some working groups that do not have labor contracts but pay wages and are subject to management, administration, and supervision. However, for technology drivers, the determination of the relationship with the platform, the entity responsible for paying social insurance, the basis and method of payment still needs to be guided more clearly. According to lawyer Binh, businesses that are subject to compulsory social insurance but do not implement it may be penalized, forced to postpay and calculate interest; cases with sufficient signs of crime may be considered for criminal responsibility under Article 216 of the Penal Code. Experts believe that it is necessary to soon have guidelines for identifying labor relations in the foundation economy, determining the responsibilities of the parties and appropriate social insurance contribution methods, helping technology drivers have more full access to the social security system. Minh Hanh
