Food delivery platforms should not use secretive algorithms to set drivers’ wages, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) and labor rights advocates said yesterday.
Platforms routinely use confidential algorithms to calculate a driver’s pay, which leads to seemingly arbitrary paycheck deductions, National Delivery Union spokesman Patrick Su (蘇柏豪) told a news conference in Taipei to mark World Day for Decent Work.
Foodpanda’s drivers formerly receive NT$60 per delivery, but the firm has changed its policy and cut their nominal pay to about NT$35 to NT$40 per delivery, he said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Based on the platform’s algorithm, which adjusts the payment to the driver’s rate of successful deliveries, the payment they receive per order can be as little as NT$22 to NT$30, he said.
Although the platform claims that the algorithm rewards drivers who make more successful deliveries, drivers cannot view their ratings, he said.
Drivers have reported that their pay had been reduced after an unsuccessful delivery caused by a mistake made by the platform or a partnered restaurant, he added.
Drivers believe that the platform is deliberately causing stress to their drivers by announcing their deductions in the middle of the month, he said.
Wage disputes occur constantly at Foodpanda, he added.
The platform can alter its algorithm without giving notice, depriving drivers of their right to negotiate wages, Fan said.
Unlike ordinary contractors, drivers working for the platforms have limited options to find a new employer and are at the mercy of the platforms’ rules, she said.
Many countries have begun regulating the platforms’ use of algorithms to determine wages, as they seek to rein in the uneven balance of power between platforms and drivers, she said.
Spain has implemented a dedicated law, while Italy in July imposed heavy fines on Uber Eats and other platforms for breaching labor and privacy laws, she said.
Fan urged the government to amend the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), saying that the act is not equal to the task of protecting Taiwanese workers.
The Ministry of Labor should organize meetings with union representatives and the platforms to draft new policies and provide guidance when necessary, she said.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS