Gig workers across Africa face abuse & exploitation as house-cleaning service apps take off; incl. co. comments
الملخص
Date Reported: 16 فبراير 2023
الموقع: نيجيريا
الشركات
SweepSouth - Other Value Chain Entityالفئة المتأثرة
Total individuals affected: 1
عمال: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , التنظيف والصيانة , Gender not reported )القضايا
Occupational Health & Safety , Access to Non-Judicial Remedyالرد
Response sought: نعم
External link to response: (Find out more)
الإجراءات المتخذة: SweepSouth commented for the article.
نوع المصدر: News outlet
الملخص
Date Reported: 16 فبراير 2023
الموقع: جنوب افريقيا (الجمهورية)
الشركات
SweepSouth - Other Value Chain Entityالفئة المتأثرة
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
عمال: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , التنظيف والصيانة , Gender not reported )القضايا
Irregular Work , Personal Health , Wage Theftالرد
Response sought: Yes, by Journalist
External link to response: (Find out more)
الإجراءات المتخذة: SweepSouth provided comment to the article.
نوع المصدر: News outlet
الملخص
Date Reported: 16 فبراير 2023
الموقع: نيجيريا
الشركات
Eden Life - Other Value Chain Entityالفئة المتأثرة
Total individuals affected: 1
عمال: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , التنظيف والصيانة , Gender not reported )القضايا
الوصول والحصول على الأدوية , الإصاباتالرد
Response sought: Yes, by News outlet
External link to response: (Find out more)
الإجراءات المتخذة: Comments from Eden Life were reported by the article; the company said it does not have a medical plan for cleaners but does reimburse them for treatment if they provide photographic proof of an injury or hospital invoice.
نوع المصدر: News outlet
الملخص
Date Reported: 16 فبراير 2023
الموقع: مصر
الشركات
Filkhedma - Other Value Chain Entityالفئة المتأثرة
Total individuals affected: 1
عمال مهاجرون: ( 1 - السودان , التنظيف والصيانة , Women , Unknown migration status )القضايا
Wage Theftالرد
Response sought: Yes, by Journalist
External link to response: (Find out more)
الإجراءات المتخذة: The co-founder of Filkhedma commented for the article.
نوع المصدر: News outlet
"Concerns over abuse and exploitation as house-cleaning service apps take off"
Women who mop, sweep and clean homes across Africa are riding a new wave of digital platforms that promise flexible work and fresh opportunity — but critics say the fast-growing apps only expose the gig workers to age-old abuse and exploitation...
The platforms say they create much needed jobs, but act only as mediators, not actual employers, a scenario that can expose domestic workers to psychological pressure, financial exploitation and physical risk —and can let bad employers or arms-length platforms evade responsibility when things go wrong...
Gig workers on sites such as SweepSouth say they fear being kicked off the apps if they dare to speak out against practices that are intrinsic to the platforms and which they say can be exploitative. Inadequate safety protocols, penalties for sick days, low pay and denial of lunch and bathroom breaks are just some of the concerns shared with the Thomson Reuters Foundation by more than a dozen app-based cleaners, former employees and customers...
Among the biggest platforms are South Africa's SweepSouth, Nigeria's Eden Life and Egypt's Filkhedma, promising a lifeline to desperate job seekers in regions with few other openings...
The biggest bugbear for most gig workers is fair pay — or the lack of it...
SweepSouth said its earnings model took into account a host of factors from supply and demand, location, the cleaner's performance rating, and the date and length of any job...
In Nigeria, 22-year-old Dare has worked for both local cleaning app Eden Life and SweepSouth, which launched in Nigeria in July 2022. Eden Life was founded in 2019 with 70+ domestic workers. SweepSouth paid him N7,000 (about R275) for half a day scraping paint and cement stains off floors, windows and toilets of a newly built three-bedroom apartment in Lagos.
The worker said he received no extra compensation, despite logging a complaint about a job he called far more strenuous than the simple task outlined on the app...