Name and Title ofSpeaker Ms.Tran Thi Kieu Trang Lecturer Institution Labour Law Department - Hanoi Law University E-Mail Address trangttk@hlu.edu.vn Title of your paper Collective actio
Trang 1Name and Title of
Speaker
Ms.Tran Thi Kieu Trang (Lecturer) Institution Labour Law Department - Hanoi Law University
E-Mail Address trangttk@hlu.edu.vn
Title of your paper Collective actions in the platform economy – The case of Grab drivers
in Vietnam
Abstract
The platform economy has emerged in Vietnam for nearly a decade and it hences creates a new group of on-demand workers Unlike many other countries in the world, these on-demand workers in Vietnam do not enjoy “employee status”, and therefore they are excluded from many fundamental rights, including right to collective actions By analysing the case of “digital strike” of Grab drivers in Vietnam, the paper contributes to the literature of how on-demand workers exersise their collective rights regardless of the legislation deficit
After aquiring Southeast Asia Uber, Grab became the dominant company in providing ride-hailing services in the region including Vietnam The Grab company makes money from an agreed-decduction percentage of the transportation fare basing on a “co-operation contract” with the drivers Yet interestingly, from 2017 to 2018, Grab drivers in Vietnam formed several
“strikes” because the company unilaterally raised deduction percentage Unlike the traditional form of collective labour actions, the drivers formed groups on social network and went on strike digitally, by turning off the Grab application, accepting the trip without picking up
commutators, booking “fake trips” and so on
From a legal perspective, the current Vietnamese laws recognizes the right to freedom of association at a certain level, including the right to form syndicates of on – demand workers (“free labour” as regulated in Charter of Trade Union) But on the other hand, the applicable Labour Code 2012 excludes these workers from the right to collective bargaining and strike action Therefore, these social network groups of Grab drivers are not legalized representation, and these “strikes” are all unlawful
Since adapted “Doi moi” (Renovation) policy in 1986, labour laws in Vietnam has followed the principle of unitarism But to a certain point, the collective labour laws has failed the
fundamental rights of on – demand workers And in the case of Grab, even the laws has not recognized the Grab drivers as workers, they managed to form a digital representative organization and their resistance toward their employer still occured Therefore, it is
neccessary for legislators to acknowledge new form of on-demand workers’representation and collective actions
Key words: digital strike, collective actions, worker representation, platform work,
on-demand worker, Grab drivers