Gig Worker Rights

On October 22, 2026, Meituan joined rivals Taobao Flash Purchase (Alibaba), JD.com, and SF Express in Hubei province's first multi-platform collective negotiation covering delivery riders in Yichang, mediated by local authorities. The platforms agreed to a minimum hourly wage floor with full income and holiday-pay guarantees, a 'post-meal dispatch' mode intended to reduce delivery-time pressure, optimized dispatch algorithms and insurance-claim rules, protected rest periods with anti-fatigue measures, and pension-insurance subsidies and hardship assistance for riders. The agreement came as Chinese regulators circulated draft national rules (open for comment through November 8, 2026) that would mandate rest breaks, monthly pay, holiday-pay premiums, and human review of account suspensions for the country's roughly 84 million gig workers; Meituan said it would keep expanding rider income transparency, algorithm governance, and consultation mechanisms in line with the draft rules.

During Malaysia's Budget 2027 tabling on October 9, 2026, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced a RM160 million package jointly funded by the government and Grab to boost net income for roughly 600,000 Malaysian e-hailing and delivery ('p-hailing') workers from 2027. Under an in-principle minimum earnings framework, median monthly net income is expected to rise by up to RM227 for e-hailing drivers and RM100 for delivery partners, funded partly through a vehicle-maintenance (lubricant) subsidy cutting costs up to 35%, an interim safety incentive cutting insurance costs up to 25% for drivers with good safety records, and government PERKESO (social security) contribution matching of 35-50%. Grab stated passenger fares would remain stable during the framework's rollout.

France's Court of Cassation on October 6, 2026 upheld the 2022 criminal conviction of former Deliveroo France executives for 'travail dissimule' (concealed/undeclared work), finding couriers between 2015-2017 had a 'permanent legal subordination relationship' with the company that made them employees despite being classified as independent contractors. Deliveroo France was fined the maximum €375,000, ordered to pay €50,000 to five trade unions and €1,200-3,000 each to 100+ affected couriers, and French tax authority URSSAF separately demanded €9.7 million in unpaid social security contributions. It is the first criminal conviction of a food-delivery platform in France for labor law violations. Deliveroo said it 'categorically contests' the ruling.

Brazil's Tribunal Superior do Trabalho (Superior Labor Court) ruled, in a decision reported September 29, 2026, that iFood can be held subsidiarily liable for the labor debts of a motorcycle courier (motoboy) employed by logistics partner SIS Moto Entregas Express Servicos from March 2019 to November 2020. The worker, who had no formal employment contract and worked 11am-to-midnight shifts without breaks under threat of platform blocking, sued after SIS Moto failed to pay owed wages. The court found that because iFood contracts logistics firms whose core activity is providing delivery labor to iFood, this constitutes illegal outsourcing (terceirizacao) rather than a purely commercial relationship, applying STF Theme 725 and TST Sumula 331. iFood's defense -- that its relationship with SIS Moto was purely commercial intermediation -- was rejected; the rapporteur dissented, arguing the platform-logistics relationship is commercial, not an employment arrangement. The ruling conflicts with an April 13, 2026 decision by the TST's Fifth Panel finding iFood NOT liable in a similar case, leaving the court's position on platform liability for outsourced delivery labor unsettled.

Singapore's Inland Revenue Authority (IRAS) said roughly 16,000 Grab drivers received higher-than-expected tax bills after Grab, as the reporting intermediary, submitted incomplete income records on their behalf. IRAS clarified that affected drivers would not be penalized for the intermediary's error and that corrections were being made; Grab said it had flagged the data-submission issue to authorities.

Careem and partner MAJRA National CSR Fund announced on September 14, 2026 that they would expand the 'Rahma Pledge' -- previously a summer-only program providing air-conditioned rest areas, free health screenings and refreshments to delivery workers across the UAE, open to riders of any platform -- into a year-round initiative covering education and community engagement in addition to seasonal worker welfare. In its second summer (2026), the program operated 9 mobile rest areas with 358 seats (an 89% increase over 2025) and recorded over 100,000 worker visits, up from 86,000 in 2025, with partner contributions (PepsiCo, Nestle, Pakistan Association Dubai, Arla Foods and others) totaling AED 1.4 million. The initiative addresses acute heat and rest-access needs for migrant delivery riders but does not address the structural kafala-system and third-party-logistics labor issues documented separately by the Equidem 'Free to Be Exploited' report covering Careem-linked riders.

Careem and MAJRA (the UAE's National CSR Fund), together with corporate partners including Nestle and PepsiCo, announced plans to extend the Rahma Pledge - a program providing rest areas, hydration and healthcare support for delivery workers regardless of which platform they work for - beyond its original summer heat-safety run into a year-round initiative. The companies said the program drew more than 100,000 visits to rest areas over the preceding summer. Careem CEO Mudassir Sheikha and MAJRA CEO Sarah Shaw announced the expansion alongside UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri.

In September 2026, Grab drivers in Vietnam organized a two-day coordinated app shutdown/boycott protesting falling earnings, calling for a review of commission rates. The action followed a similar pattern in Indonesia where Grab had cut commissions for two-wheeled drivers from 20% to 8% in July 2026 after months of driver pressure. Vietnamese authorities noted the boycott's actual operational impact was limited, and police fined at least one social media account for spreading false claims that Grab was fully paralyzed. Vietnam's Labour Code does not recognize app shutdowns by classified independent contractors as legal strikes, highlighting a regulatory gap in platform worker protections.

Hyundai Motor declined a March 10, 2026 request from ten subcontractor unions representing roughly 1,675 logistics, security, cleaning, cafeteria, and vehicle-sales workers at its Ulsan, Asan, and Jeonju plants to bargain directly under South Korea's amended 'Yellow Envelope' Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, which expanded the legal definition of 'employer' to cover companies that substantially control subcontracted workers' conditions. The Ulsan Regional Labor Relations Commission ruled against Hyundai in September 2026, and the National Labor Relations Commission upheld that Hyundai must recognize bargaining obligations for production, cafeteria, security, and cleaning subcontract workers (though not dealership sales agents). As of mid-August 2026, only 102 of 456 principal companies nationwide that received similar demands had entered negotiations, with many, including Hyundai group affiliates, contesting the rulings through administrative appeals.

Bolt Operations OU petitioned Kenya's High Court challenging the 2022 Transport Network Companies regulations. On September 1, 2026, Justice Florence Muigai Aburili ruled the 18% commission-cap and anti-circumvention provisions unconstitutional and invalid for lack of statutory price-setting authority and a regulatory impact assessment, suspending the declaration for 12 months while government redraws the rules. The same judgment struck down a separate rule requiring platforms to retain three years of detailed passenger and driver data and surrender it to the National Transport and Safety Authority on demand, finding it breached the constitutional right to privacy.

On September 1, 2026, Malaysia's Gig Workers Tribunal, newly established under the Gig Workers Act 2025 (Act 872), held its first hearing at the Kuching labour office in Sarawak: a self-represented e-hailing driver's claim against GrabCar Sdn Bhd over how Grab's Saver Trips, Advance Booking, and cashback-incentive features affected his earnings. Section 36 of the Act bars lawyers from the tribunal. The hearing was adjourned for further testimony and witness examination.

Rappi and Uber are appellants in a landmark case before Brazil's Supreme Court (STF), which resumed hearings August 27, 2026, challenging lower-court rulings that recognized employment relationships between platform workers and the apps based on 'algorithmic subordination.' The Court's eventual ruling will set binding precedent (repercussao geral) for thousands of similar lawsuits nationwide; iFood, 99 and InDrive were admitted as interested third parties. Rappi is seeking to overturn rulings that would trigger CLT employment obligations (paid vacation, 13th salary, FGTS contributions) for its delivery workforce.

At Naspers's 112th Annual General Meeting on August 27, 2026, the board confirmed it does not publicly disclose deaths or accidents among the roughly 22,000 Takealot and Mr D delivery drivers (15,000 Takealot, 7,000 Mr D), citing the absence of industry-wide reporting standards. South African shareholder-activism nonprofit Just Share pressed the board on how many of the 22,000 drivers were injured or killed in the 2026 financial year and what compensation or medical costs the company paid, as well as the share of foreign nationals, asylum seekers, and refugees in the delivery fleet and how July 2026 anti-migrant protests in Johannesburg affected driver earnings and platform access. Independent non-executive director Debra Meyer said Naspers was 'advancing internal reporting while it looks for meaningful public metrics' but did not commit to a disclosure timeline.

A worker was critically injured after being trapped by a forklift at a Coupang logistics warehouse around August 23, 2026. South Korea's labor ministry and police raided the logistics center on September 2, 2026 over the entrapment injury, with criminal charges pursued against warehouse management. The incident followed a pattern of worker-safety complaints raised by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' courier union through August 2026, including multiple heat-related worker collapses at Coupang facilities during the summer.

On August 21, 2026, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) fined Uber €824,990,000 for violating GDPR's prohibition on fully automated decision-making. Between 2018 and 2022, Uber used software to automatically deactivate driver accounts based on suspected fraud or low customer ratings without human review, and failed to adequately inform drivers that automated decision-making was in operation, causing immediate loss of platform income for affected drivers. The investigation stemmed from a complaint by 171 French drivers via human rights group Ligue des droits de l'Homme to French regulator CNIL, coordinated with the Dutch AP under GDPR's one-stop-shop mechanism since Uber's EU headquarters are in the Netherlands. It is the AP's fourth fine against Uber (following fines in 2018, 2023, and 2024); Uber has appealed the decision.

Zomato announced that cumulative National Pension System (NPS) contributions from delivery partners onboarded through its platform crossed Rs 1 crore, with PRAN enrolments surpassing 2 lakh (200,000), under the NPS e-Shramik (Platform Service Partner) model launched in October 2025 with HDFC Pension, PFRDA and KFintech. The program lets gig delivery partners make small, portable retirement contributions across platforms.

On August 15, 2026, Bengaluru delivery workers organized by the Karnataka App-based Workers Union struck against Zomato (and Swiggy) in solidarity with a restaurant boycott threat led by the Bengaluru Hotel and Restaurant Association, which said over 21,000 restaurants could stop accepting orders. Workers and restaurants demanded an end to commissions as high as 30%, transparent payout and deduction systems, and dedicated human support to resolve disputes, calling platform economics exploitative of workers, restaurants, and customers alike.

On August 15, 2026, Bengaluru delivery workers organized by the Karnataka App-based Workers Union struck against Swiggy (and Zomato) in solidarity with a restaurant boycott threat led by the Bengaluru Hotel and Restaurant Association, which said over 21,000 restaurants could stop accepting orders. Workers and restaurants demanded an end to commissions as high as 30%, transparent payout and deduction systems, and dedicated human support to resolve disputes, calling platform economics exploitative of workers, restaurants, and customers alike.

Through 2026 iFood progressively rolled out '+Entregas', a scheduled-shift pay model paying roughly R$3.10-3.50 per delivery versus the R$7.50 minimum of the standard model - a cut couriers put at more than 50% per delivery. iFood says adherence is optional and that participating couriers earn more per hour logged; couriers report pressure to join, fewer orders for those who refuse, and mandatory quotas enforced by threat of blocking. Protests and stoppages hit Rio de Janeiro in April 2026 and Florianopolis and Uberaba around August 1, 2026, continuing grievances from the 2025 national app-workers' strike. Worker groups demand a R$10 minimum per delivery and withdrawal of the model.

Uber and Lyft sued to block New York City's Local Law 52 of 2026, which would have required the companies to show just cause, give 14 days' advance notice, follow progressive discipline procedures, and allow outside review before deactivating a driver's account -- protections covering roughly 87,000 NYC drivers. On July 21, 2026, US District Judge Gregory H. Woods granted a preliminary injunction blocking the law before its July 28 effective date, ruling Uber and Lyft were likely to succeed on claims that the law violated the Contracts Clause, Due Process Clause, and First Amendment, and finding the law protected 'only a narrow class of drivers' without advancing broader interests.