Why the Albanese government must be creative with gig economy reforms

Instead of squeezing gig work into the way employment has traditionally been regulated, this is an opportunity to create regulation that helps protect workers in this form of work, which is often chosen because of their limited labour market power.

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In our submission to the department, we provide two wildly different and potentially incompatible options which, we believe, are equally worth considering.

First, rather than making the Fair Work Commission the main vehicle through which minimum standards will be set, why not try a model of industry self-regulation and provide appropriate safeguards for the parties to engage in this?

In practice, rather than an arbitrating role, the commission could be tasked with bringing together platforms, unions, and other parties – facilitating social dialogue, coupled with the Fair Work Ombudsman’s being tasked with investigating and reporting on industry practices. This may provide sufficient carrots and sticks, encouraging the parties to make socially acceptable and economically viable rules.

Such a reform could capitalise on the momentum from recent memoranda of understanding between the Transport Workers’ Union and major food-delivery and ride-share platforms. Over time, this might be extended into other sectors such as aged and disability care.

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Alternately, we note that a primary cause of working conditions in the gig economy is “take it or leave it” contracts. In practice, workers have little or no real bargaining power, creating the capacity for unfair contractual terms.

As such, we propose that workers or their representatives could have a right to challenge the terms and conditions of their contract with a low-cost jurisdiction such as the Fair Work Commission, which would be able to decide if contractual terms were unfair.

This, in turn, would help to dissuade platforms from offering “unfair terms”, somewhat levelling the playing field for workers. Under this approach, the government could consider requiring platforms to adhere to standards such as including dispute resolution clauses.

If the intent of the reform is to protect vulnerable workers, there are different ways forward. Rather than replicating existing approaches with all the risks outlined, let’s seize the opportunity to find creative – and gig-specific – solutions.

Dr Alex Veen is a senior lecturer in the discipline of work and organisational studies at the University of Sydney and a co-director of the Sydney Employment Relations Research Group; Dr Caleb Goods is a senior lecturer in the department of management and organisation at the University of Western Australia; Dr Tom Barratt is a senior lecturer in the department of management and organisation at the University of Western Australia.