Laws, Policies, and Collective Agreements Protecting Low-wage and Digital Platform Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ellen MacEachen; Angelique de Rijk; Johnny Dyreborg; Jean Baptiste Fassier; Michael Fletcher; Pamela Hopwood; Meri Koivusalo; Shannon Majowicz; Samantha Meyer; Christian Ståhl; Felix Welti

doi:10.1177/10482911221133796

Laws, Policies, and Collective Agreements Protecting Low-wage and Digital Platform Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ellen MacEachen, Angelique de Rijk, Johnny Dyreborg, Jean Baptiste Fassier, Michael Fletcher, Pamela Hopwood, Meri Koivusalo, Shannon Majowicz, Samantha Meyer, Christian Ståhl, Felix Welti

Health Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

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Abstract

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this commentary describes and compares shifting employment and occupational health social protections of low-wage workers, including self-employed digital platform workers. Through a focus on eight advanced economy countries, this paper identifies how employment misclassification and definitions of employees were handled in law and policy. Debates about minimum wage and occupational health and safety standards as they relate to worker well-being are considered. Finally, we discuss promising changes introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic that protect the health of low-wage and self-employed workers. Overall, we describe an ongoing “haves” and a “have not” divide, with on the one extreme, traditional job arrangements with good work-and-health social protections and, on the other extreme, low-wage and self-employed digital platform workers who are mostly left out of schemes. However, during the pandemic small and often temporary gains occurred and are discussed.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	201-212
Number of pages	12
Journal	New Solutions
Volume	32
Issue number	3
Early online date	19 Oct 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/10482911221133796
Publication status	Published - Nov 2022
Publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

digital platform gig work
low wage
occupational health
self-employment
social security policy

Publication forum classification

Publication forum level 1

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1177/10482911221133796Licence: CC BY

10482911221133796Final published version, 631 KBLicence: CC BY

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202212088975Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Laws, Policies, and Collective Agreements Protecting Low-wage and Digital Platform Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic",

abstract = "In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this commentary describes and compares shifting employment and occupational health social protections of low-wage workers, including self-employed digital platform workers. Through a focus on eight advanced economy countries, this paper identifies how employment misclassification and definitions of employees were handled in law and policy. Debates about minimum wage and occupational health and safety standards as they relate to worker well-being are considered. Finally, we discuss promising changes introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic that protect the health of low-wage and self-employed workers. Overall, we describe an ongoing “haves” and a “have not” divide, with on the one extreme, traditional job arrangements with good work-and-health social protections and, on the other extreme, low-wage and self-employed digital platform workers who are mostly left out of schemes. However, during the pandemic small and often temporary gains occurred and are discussed.",

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author = "Ellen MacEachen and {de Rijk}, Angelique and Johnny Dyreborg and Fassier, {Jean Baptiste} and Michael Fletcher and Pamela Hopwood and Meri Koivusalo and Shannon Majowicz and Samantha Meyer and Christian St{\aa}hl and Felix Welti",

note = "Funding Information: The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (grant number VR5-172687). Funding Information: We acknowledge the support of Joyceline Amoako, Antonela Ilic, and Meera Parthipan, who assisted with organizing meetings and materials. We gratefully acknowledge the input of Steve Mantis, a Stakeholder Advisory Committee member, who provided input on our deliberations. The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (grant number VR5-172687). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2022.",

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AU - Fassier, Jean Baptiste

AU - Fletcher, Michael

AU - Hopwood, Pamela

AU - Koivusalo, Meri

AU - Majowicz, Shannon

AU - Meyer, Samantha

AU - Ståhl, Christian

AU - Welti, Felix

N1 - Funding Information: The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (grant number VR5-172687). Funding Information: We acknowledge the support of Joyceline Amoako, Antonela Ilic, and Meera Parthipan, who assisted with organizing meetings and materials. We gratefully acknowledge the input of Steve Mantis, a Stakeholder Advisory Committee member, who provided input on our deliberations. The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (grant number VR5-172687). Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.

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AB - In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this commentary describes and compares shifting employment and occupational health social protections of low-wage workers, including self-employed digital platform workers. Through a focus on eight advanced economy countries, this paper identifies how employment misclassification and definitions of employees were handled in law and policy. Debates about minimum wage and occupational health and safety standards as they relate to worker well-being are considered. Finally, we discuss promising changes introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic that protect the health of low-wage and self-employed workers. Overall, we describe an ongoing “haves” and a “have not” divide, with on the one extreme, traditional job arrangements with good work-and-health social protections and, on the other extreme, low-wage and self-employed digital platform workers who are mostly left out of schemes. However, during the pandemic small and often temporary gains occurred and are discussed.

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Laws, Policies, and Collective Agreements Protecting Low-wage and Digital Platform Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Keywords

Publication forum classification

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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