| Abstract |
: |
The coming of online ride-hailing platforms in Indonesia have been discussed to have
contributed heavily to the country’s economy, especially by providing new jobs for
unskilled workforce. Nonetheless, there are significant issues aside from the economic
calculation that is experienced by workers in this gig economy. This paper focuses on
online ojek (motorbike taxis) drivers in Indonesia. Ojek online drivers in Indonesia
experienced many structural issues within their relations with the government and
also the platform. These are due to the absence of adequate regulation and political
will to reform the existing regulation on Transportation and Workforce. While drivers
have voiced their discontent through demonstrations and strikes, there are no
significant outcomes coming from the platforms and the government. Platform
always made its way to operate their business as usual. The existence of “vendors”, or
third parties that manage specific regional drivers also have made it possible for
platforms to shift part of their responsibilities as the “employer” to these actors.
A significant number of literatures on gig work has emerged in the past few years.
Recent studies have indicated that gig work offers what Mäntymäki et al. (2019) billed
as digital temporality due to its algorithmic mechanism techniques (Wood et al.,
2019). Gig workers are not bound by the traditional notion of the temporal dimension
in labor relations, which is characterized by rigid working hours determined by
employers. In other words, gig workers are afforded the convenience to decide their
work time. This high degree of flexibility is proven to be a significant incentive,
especially for young people (Churchill et al., 2019) and those working multiple jobs
(Wu et al., 2019). Unfortunately, scholars have also recognized power imbalance between platforms
and workers. The volatility of gig work leads to the higher likeliness of individuals from
marginalized groups to become a worker compared to those coming from a more
privileged background (Churchill et al., 2019). This leads to a condition where workers
tend to be less educated on their employment rights. On the platforms’ side,
algorithmic mechanisms such as driver ratings and surge pricing are often used to
exercise administrative control over their workers (Rosenblat and Stark, 2016; Chen,
2018). Platforms also employ other means to increase their bargaining position
against workers, such as unilateral discretion and information asymmetry (van Doorn,
2017).
Moreover, gig workers are often classified as independent contractors instead of
employees to avoid the provision of full employment benefits (van Doorn, 2017). This
classification is important in determining the rights and responsibilities of the workers
and how platforms should manage them. Laws and regulations are important to
provide decent work conditions for gig workers. Therefore, the government needs to
amend the existing regulation or create a new one that expands the definition of
employment (Stewart and Stanford, 2017). |
