Deaths of two food delivery riders in Sydney throws spotlight on gig workers' conditions
The families of two food delivery drivers who were killed in road accidents in Sydney may face financial ruin due to a lack of workers’ compensation or insurance for gig economy workers.
Dede Fredy, a 36-year-old Uber Eats rider, and Xiaojun Chen, a 43-year-old worker for the delivery app Hungry Panda, were killed in separate accidents late last month.
Both men lived alone in Australia, and were working as food delivery riders to send money back to their families.
Chen leaves behind a wife and two children, aged eight and 15, in China, while Fredy leaves behind a wife and young son in Indonesia.
Chen’s widow, Lihong Wei, told Guardian Australia his death had devastated their family, and left her as the only carer for their two children, and for her parents, who are disabled.
“I did not eat or drink for 24 hours [after he died],” she said. “It hurts.”
The pair had been married since 2002, and lived in a small village in Shaanxi province in rural China. Chen previously worked in construction, and Wei worked in a clothing factory before their children were born. Wei said Chen had been making the equivalent of only A$16,000 a year in China, before he moved to Australia in 2018.
“Xiaojun was the only income for our family,” she said. “I don’t know now, what if my parents have any illness or injury. If I go to work, I have to take care of our children, and nobody can take care of my parents, because they can’t move.
“Xiaojun sent all the money back. He spent very little.
“I feel very sad, it feels like my heart is broken, when I think about my husband. When he passed away, he didn’t have any family members beside him.”
Most gig economy workers are not eligible for standard workers’ compensation, said Nick McIntosh, the assistant national secretary of the Transport Workers Union.
Under the New South Wales workers’ compensation scheme, the dependants of someone who dies because of a work-related injury are entitled to a lump sum payment of $834,200, and weekly payments of $149.30 for each dependant child until the age of 16.
But deliverers for Uber Eats and Hungry Panda are classified as independent contractors, not employees.
Under the insurance policy provided by Uber Eats, the dependants of a deliverer who dies while working are eligible for a maximum of a $400,000 lump sum, and potentially $5,000 for each spouse or dependant.
McIntosh said this was well below the NSW standard compensation, and it was not even clear from the Uber Eats contract whether Fredy’s family would be eligible for the company’s insurance.
Fredy’s family is still in Indonesia and missed his funeral in Australia. Chen’s family want to attend his funeral, but are still waiting on a visa, and do not have the money to pay for flights.
Wei said Hungry Panda had verbally promised to cover her accommodation and meals while in Australia, but she did not know if she would receive any insurance, or how much.
“I don’t know if the claim is going to go through,” she said. “I don’t know [how much]. But I just want the insurance company to treat this case fairly.
“I am a person of dignity, I don’t want anything I am not entitled to. However, what I am entitled to is the ongoing cost of the children, until they grow up, and my parents – to survive until they die.”
Flights to Australia cost tens of thousands of dollars, and Wei said she had asked Hungry Panda to cover the cost. If it refused, she said, she would borrow the money from her family and friends.
Hungry Panda did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
McIntosh said it was “tragic” that both men had so few rights while working in the gig economy to make money for their families.
“You’ve got 36-year-old Dede trying to do the right thing and earn whatever he can to make a living,” he said. “He has a young son in Indonesia. And of course he is the main breadwinner and the one that was supporting his family.”
Uber Eats did not notify SafeWork NSW of Fredy’s accident until five days after it had happened, and two days after he had died, according to the company’s own records.
McIntosh said this was unacceptable, given Uber was “one of the companies earning a huge amount of money during the pandemic”.
“You are talking about a multinational company that is paying celebrities huge amounts of money to be on prime time advertising, saying use Uber Eats,” he said.
“I note that, in the ads, you hear a doorbell ring and you see an almostinvisible hand come out with a bag, you don’t even see the driver. That is symbolic of how they treat their drivers.
“If this was any other company, an Australian company this happened to, where we had a worker seriously injured on site, who ultimately passed away, there would be coronial investigations. You would probably have the workplace shut down.
“Given the growth of this work, these people are meant to be heroes of this pandemic,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Uber said the company notified SafeWork NSW of Fredy’s death “as soon as becoming aware of it, and have contacted NSW police to offer any assistance we can”.
“In Australia, Uber Eats deliverypartners are covered by a support package designed specifically for them, which includes insurance by Chubb should an accident or injury occur while they’re on a trip.”
The company said it had safety features in place that included forcing riders to take an eight-hour break if they had been on the app for 12 cumulative hours, and annual bike safety tests and videos on how to ride a bike safely.