Food delivery riders and the Transport Workers Union say that proposals for new laws to target and fine them will make their work less safe and let Uber and Deliveroo off the hook, writes Jim McIlroy.
Deliveroo
"Old fashions please me best; I am not so nice To change true rules for odd inventions."
William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, 1593.
On May 21 Australian Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt introduced a small but potentially significant private member's bill into the House of Representatives.
Anyone who had the pleasure of hearing Jon Faine’s dismemberment of the gig economy, as represented by the hapless Brent Thomas, Head of Public Policy at Airbnb ANZ, on ABC Radio last year will never forget it.
It was excruciating. You could hear the air going out of poor old Brent when Faine pressed him on how much tax Airbnb actually pays in Australia, and pressed him and pressed him.
Striking couriers for online food delivery company Deliveroo won a “major victory” in getting bosses to promise that they will not be forced to work under a piece-rate system, their union announced on August 17.