The Fairwork Foundation, in collaboration with researchers and legal academics from the Universities of the Western Cape, Oxford, Cape Town, and Manchester, is launching a new Code of Good Practice for platform workers in South Africa.
The new Code is designed to provide gig workers with greater legal protection than the existing framework, by applying existing laws to the gig economy in South Africa.
It is based around the five principles of fair platform work, developed by the Fairwork Foundation’s international research network, in consultation with workers, platforms, third sector organisations, and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). These principles comprise Fair Pay, Fair Conditions, Fair Contracts, Fair Management, and Fair Representation.
Fairwork researchers are calling for the Code to be applied to platform companies operating in South Africa. The Code draws on the existing legal framework, as well as highlighting areas where legal reform is needed. It is intended as a resource for platform companies, gig workers, legal practitioners, decision-makers and policy-makers to better protect gig workers who are falling through the cracks of current regulation.
The Fairwork Foundation’s annual platform rankings highlight the best and worst labour practices in the global platform economy. In 2020, the Fairwork South Africa report found that the NoSweat platform had made the most improvements of all platform companies surveyed, by introducing significant changes in all five areas of fairness following discussions with the Foundation.
“It is encouraging to see some platforms responding positively to improve their ratings following the launch of the inaugural Fairwork South Africa report last year’, says Professor Darcy du Toit, of the University of the Western Cape, one of the Code’s main authors. “But others haven’t, and fundamentally, all workers have the same rights. That’s where the law comes in”.
Adds Professor Sandra Fredman, Faculty of Law, Oxford University, also co-author of the new Code of Conduct, “The problem of high unemployment in South Africa is not solved by jobs with high levels of exploitation. Such jobs not only undermine workers’ constitutional rights to dignity and fair labour practices. They also have a corrosive effect on working standards of workers in competing enterprises. Legal regulation is essential to ensure that platforms with better practices are not undermined by competition with those who force down terms and conditions”.
The Code was launched at the South African Society for Labour Law (SASLAW) conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, November 6th, and published simultaneously on the Fairwork website.
For more information please call +44 (0)1865 287 210 or contact press@oii.ox.ac.uk.
Fairwork is financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and conducted in collaboration with the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. More information about Fairwork.
Professor of Internet Geography
Mark Graham is an economic geographer. His research focuses on digital labour, the gig economy, and digital inequalities. He is the author, most recently, of The Gig Economy: A Critical Introduction.
Former Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Kelle Howson is a Research Associate on the Fairwork project. Kelle is a development geographer interested in how ethical certification is reshaping governance and power relations in global networks.
This project aims to understand the contextual, contractual and practical nature of platform work, to identify its shortfall from decent work standards and to contribute to the development of its governance and regulation.
The Fairwork Foundation will certify online labour platforms, using leverage from workers, consumers, and platforms to improve the welfare and job quality of digital workers.
