Government Initiates Legislation for Platform Workers Protection Act... Industry Calls for "Standard Contract Distribution"

Minister Lee Jae-gap of the Ministry of Employment and Labor is taking a photo with attendees at the "Platform Companies and Workers Meeting" held on the 28th at the Seoul Employment and Labor Office in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government announced that it will promptly enact a law to protect those working through digital platforms, such as delivery workers. The industry has decided to prepare measures including the distribution of standard contracts.

On the 28th, Lee Jae-gap, Minister of Employment and Labor, held a meeting with representatives from 'Wishket,' an information technology (IT) personnel brokerage platform company, and 'CrowdWorks,' an artificial intelligence (AI) data platform company, at the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office in Jung-gu, Seoul.

At the meeting, he said regarding the Platform Workers Protection Act, "We are conducting consultations with labor and management to implement measures such as legislative promotion, and we will prepare to ensure that legislation can be enacted promptly."

Platform workers are classified as individual business operators and therefore do not fall under labor laws such as the Labor Standards Act. The government is pushing for the enactment of a special law to protect them.

Labor groups have pointed out that labor laws should also apply to platform workers.

Minister Lee emphasized, "For newly entering platform companies to successfully settle in the market and grow together, it is necessary to support platform workers who provide labor through the platform so that they can work with trust."

Earlier, on the 21st, Kim Yong-beom, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, held the 3rd meeting of the Safety Net Strengthening Subcommittee of the Korean New Deal Advisory Group at HJBC in Gwanghwamun and stated, "We will discuss labor law protection measures for platform workers, among others."

Meanwhile, platform companies attending the meeting proposed measures to protect platform workers, including ▲ distribution of standard contracts ▲ prevention of unfair trade ▲ tax consultation support ▲ vocational training ▲ establishment of a career recognition system such as certification.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.