Manila, Philippines – Even as demand for his taxi service picks up as the COVID-19 pandemic abates, Edward isn’t celebrating. Instead of taking home more money, he deals with another threat to his existence: rising gas prices.
Over the past two years, as the government in the Philippines enforced a strict lockdown that brought the country’s normally busy street life to a halt, Edward has seen fares fall sharply while working as a driver for Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading ridesharing app and food deliveries. To meet the expenses of his wife and two-year-old son, he drew on his savings and borrowed money from an uncle who worked abroad.
Grab’s US-listed shares are up 32 percent recently, and the business is expected to grow as more countries lift pandemic-related restrictions. But with Metro Manila gasoline prices up 30 percent this year, Edward is frustrated by the series of roadblocks he faces and the lack of a safety net for him and other gig workers.
“It’s one thing at a time,” he said, pausing from driving in a busy Manila commercial area.
“I thought things would be better now, but even though we have more passengers, it’s going to be really difficult,” said Edward, who requested that only his first name be used to avoid a possible conflict with Grab. said Al Jazeera.
The Philippines’ Department of Labor estimates that the country’s strict COVID-19 lockdown has displaced a million workers, and many of them have turned to gig work in search of alternative sources of income.
Even before the pandemic, a large proportion of Filipino workers were employed informally. A lawmaker pushed for legislation to help such workers, estimating that 1.5 million Filipinos depend on informal work, or 2 percent of the population — the highest per capita rate in the world.
Gig workers and other vulnerable sections of the Filipino workforce fear a solution to their plight may be difficult with Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s inauguration as president on Thursday. Marcos Jr., widely known by the nickname Bongbong, is the son of a late dictator who repressed critics and labor organizers.
Organizers fear the new government may not be interested in working with craft policies that help workers in the gig economy, such as B. online tutors and IT staff as well as ride-along and delivery drivers.
There are also fears that Marcos Jr. could stalk critics in the same way his father’s administration did decades ago.
“We fear that under this new government … the democratic space of our society will continue to shrink, federalism will continue to erode,” Raymond de Basilio, an educator and organizer, told Al Jazeera.
“We are committed to working with the new government, but is it willing to work with those perceived to be critical of it?”
Because informal employment does not come with any short-term benefits or assistance, analysts and advocates have long urged the government to enact a protective law.
“It is high time the government enacted rules to protect gig economy workers and their well-being. So far, they have been vulnerable to abuse by customers and, to a lesser extent, by their employers,” Jan Carlo B. Punongbayan, an assistant professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics, told Al Jazeera.
corporate responsibility
Along with the government, some analysts argue that companies should do more for workers whose work drives their growth.
Cheryl Ruth R. Soriano, lead investigator for Fairwork Philippines, and Cheryl Ruth R. Soriano, professor at De La Salle University in Manila, told Al Jazeera: “Platforms manage to delegate responsibility to the outside world, even though they are just platforms , they are only technology companies. “
“Especially for gig work, platforms need to recognize their responsibilities. You should contribute to this.”
Startups are filling this gap and trying to offer solutions tailored to the needs of gig workers. Emerson Lin co-founded Gigacover in 2017, which aims to provide workers with a form of paid sick leave.
The company, which operates in Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines and is looking to expand further, offers private insurance plans that workers can pay for and attract when work dries up or illness or injury strikes. Workers can also apply for loans to invest in the equipment needed to take up more lucrative forms of work.
Gigacover says its services are particularly suited to workers who distribute their work across more than one platform or switch between platforms in search of better pay or terms.
“We see the gig economy as the future of work, but at the same time there are issues around security, savings and the future of these workers,” Lynn, CEO and co-founder of Gigacover, told Al Jazeera.
Grab also has its own employee insurance program. Al Jazeera has contacted Grab for comment.
Incoming President Marco Jr. took office while facing pressing economic problems, including rising consumer and energy prices. They must balance the need to boost economic growth with calls to curb rising inflation and rising government debt. Gil Beltran, the Treasury Department’s chief economist, recently predicted that the economy would need to grow at 7 percent annually through 2025 to sustain public debt growth.
On the ground in the Philippines, in the absence of credible government aid, activists are looking for solutions through their hard work and family networks, says Soriano, an investigator for Fairwork Philippines, regardless of which political party is in power.
“Entrepreneurship drives people to think about themselves, how to take care of themselves, because they know that public institutions will not take care of them,” she said.
“It causes resentment, but you feel like you really have to find ways to survive.”
Under Marcos, Filipino labor activists’ fear of going back to the past first surfaced at Al Jazeera.
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