Female driver struggles to make a living near her birthday, concerned about not being able to pay social insurance
Nearly 8 months pregnant, still struggling to drive for 10 hours a day, female driver Le Thi Thuy Hoa is heartbroken when she does not have maternity benefits because she is not covered by social insurance.
On September 15, the Workers' Counseling and Support Center under the Ho Chi Minh City Trade Union in coordination with Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance organized a workshop "Social security for technology car drivers - Current situation and solutions". The event attracted the attention of many technology motorbike taxi drivers in Ho Chi Minh City.
The burden behind the wheel and maternity worries
Attached to the technology motorbike taxi driver profession for more than 10 years, Mr. Pham Mi Sen confided that the biggest pain of technology drivers comes from the two words "identity". On paper, they are called "partners" by applications. But in reality, in society, they are seen as "motorbike taxi drivers".
Not being recognized as an official worker means that they are deprived of all minimum social security benefits, completely self-sufficient when sick or encountering risks.
From that reality, he proposed that management agencies soon bring technology drivers into the legal framework, create equal relationships so that workers have the right to negotiate about fares, working hours and discount rates.
The social security gap is also clearly shown through the stories of female drivers. Ms. Le Thi Thuy Hoa (32 years old), although nearly 8 months pregnant and only a few weeks away from giving birth, still strains herself to drive 10 hours a day. Having worked for 8 years at a business with full social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance, Ms. Hoa quit her job to switch to driving to be flexible in taking care of her young child.
However, not being subject to compulsory social insurance makes her face the bitter reality that there is absolutely no maternity allowance. She choked up sharing that stopping driving means stopping income, forcing her to squeeze out her energy to work close to the day of birth to collect childbirth expenses. She hopes that functional agencies and car companies will soon have a mechanism to protect female drivers, creating conditions for them to pay social insurance to have a support when giving birth as well as when they are old.
Need legal identification and compulsory social insurance
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Duc Loc, Director of the Institute for Social Life Research, said that a survey of over 400 drivers showed that current income has decreased sharply. If drivers participate in voluntary social insurance themselves, they will find it difficult to ensure their lives. Therefore, there needs to be a clear identification and a reasonable income distribution mechanism for businesses and drivers to deduct and pay compulsory social insurance.
Mr. Phung Thai Quang, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Trade Union Workers' Counseling and Support Center, emphasized that the center will coordinate with relevant parties to propose algorithmic transparency platforms, promote negotiation of discount rates and expand compulsory social insurance for technology drivers, helping them to be protected commensurately for their contributions to the economy.
Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has about 400,000 technology and delivery drivers. Notably, 73.4% of drivers only participate in household health insurance or receive support from trade union organizations, and the rest do not even have any type of insurance.
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