Domiciliary Workers Fear Income Loss Due to Labor Reform
The labor reform includes a chapter that regulates digital platform delivery workers.
This would ensure social security affiliation, but according to some sector spokespersons, it would limit working hours.
This is chapter 6 of the labor reform, which specifies work on digital delivery platforms, that is, for domiciliary workers.
A rule that, if approved, would require employers to guarantee the social security of these workers, as well as a contract that can be of indefinite term without company exclusivity.
The reform aims to ensure that digital workers are not subject to the exclusivity clause, but if approved and enacted as law, these digital workers will have to abide by the maximum hours established by labor regulations.
The reform would limit the daily maximum working hours to eight hours, which for some unions in the delivery companies means fewer benefits and more obstacles to their work.
For independent domiciliary workers, it is not convenient to adjust their work hours to a strict eight-hour schedule as they typically work 12 to 14 hours a day, which allows them to earn around four million pesos monthly.
They are concerned that such a change would not yield the same economic performance as before.
The Association that groups the delivery applications in Colombia, Alianza, claims that the reform would impede the labor movement of digital workers, and they need to advance social security for delivery personnel, but not through a contract that could destroy tens of thousands of jobs, affect commerce, and harm users.
However, other workers consider these changes an improvement in their working conditions.
They hope that this labor reform will force companies to recognize them as servers.
If the reform is approved in the congress, the ministries of labor and information and communication technologies (ICTs) are expected to be responsible for the necessary regulations for this chapter on digital workers.
