By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Nov 9: Democratic Action Party (DAP) P195 Bandar Kuching incumbent Dr Kelvin Yii has pledged to fight in Parliament for a comprehensive policy to be laid down to regulate as well as provide progression for those who are involved in the gig economy in Malaysia.
If the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is given the mandate in the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15), Dr Yii said a comprehensive policy direction to address this and to provide better protection for those involved, including young people who are more and more involved in the gig economy, will become one of its priorities.
According to a recent survey conducted by the Statistics Department, 72.1 per cent of Malaysians chose not to continue their studies after Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) with many young people choosing to go into either the gig economy or cloud economy (online content creator) instead.
“However, Covid-19 and MCO (movement control order) had demonstrated how a segment of workers, especially gig riders and contract workers are vulnerable without adequate protection.
“Some of the major issues faced by them include being unable to earn a living wage due to the gig economy’s ecosystem that is structured by platform providers,” he told a press conference at DAP headquarters which was streamed live on their social media today.
These groups of workers, Dr Yii noted, are also not entitled to any social security benefits such as Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and insurance benefits from Employment Insurance System (EIS) and medical insurance provided by the Social Security Organisation (Socso).
With that, he emphasised that the next Federal government must prepare a comprehensive plan to be tabled to address the welfare and needs of this group of workers, especially the youth.
If given the mandate, Dr Yii said the PH will look into the policies to provide social security schemes which covers the establishment of a regulatory body, contract agreements, free life insurance schemes and funeral compensation amounting to RM10,000 for six million gig workers.
“Extending the provision of special allowance to those who have lost their jobs as contract workers which is also applicable to those who are actively seeking new employment.
“Introducing a career progression system for manual labourers and gig economy workers with gig economy companies to be given incentives for developing the skills and career of their employees,” he explained.
Apart from these, he added that there is a need to upgrade technical and vocational education and training (TVET) as another pathway for gig workers to future-proof and enable their progress to more sustainable and secure economic endeavours in the future.
Stampin incumbent Chong Chieng Jen and DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang were also present at the press conference. — DayakDaily
