"More gig workers recognized as employees", 25 November 2019

...In May...food delivery workers formed the Rider Union. On Nov. 18, Seoul Metropolitan Government granted it legal status ― a first for a platform workers' union.

"...we concluded there was sufficient reason to see Rider Union members as formal employees of food delivery app providers," Jung Sang-dae, a city official..."The platform firms use a pre-set contract to unilaterally impose a specific profit-sharing scheme on the delivery workers, whose labor is crucial to the companies' business model. From a holistic view, we can see there is an economic, systematic and subordinate relationship between the platforms and delivery workers."

With its new status, Rider Union can formally request that food delivery app providers partake in labor negotiations. The legal status, however, is applied only to those working in Seoul, and nationwide recognition requires approval by the Ministry of Employment and Labor...