Most digital platform workers in Tunisia face precarious conditions: UGTT study

The vast majority of digital platform workers in Tunisia are operating under precarious conditions, lacking essential legal and social protections, according to a new field study by the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT).

The study, presented at a conference on digital platform workers, revealed that the sector faces pressing social, economic, and security challenges. These issues require immediate intervention to establish a legal framework that governs the industry and safeguards all stakeholders, including workers and clients, who face multiple risks due to the absence of clear regulations.

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extremely precarious

Hedi Dahman, the study's lead author and a social security expert, described the findings as the first national field study on the reality of digital platform workers in Tunisia. The research surveyed 121 workers across various roles, including delivery drivers, motorcycle couriers, ride-sharing drivers, goods delivery personnel, and home care providers. Dahman characterized their legal, social, and professional conditions as "extremely precarious," noting that these workers often exist within the informal economy, or even form a "parallel economy within the parallel economy."

The study's primary objective is to identify mechanisms for regulating the situation of these workers, granting them access to professional structures, associations, or unions, and ensuring basic rights like social coverage and insurance. Alarmingly, the research found that about 98% of digital platform workers have no social coverage or insurance for their transportation means, despite daily exposure to road accidents and other occupational hazards. They also face risks related to illness, violence, harassment, blackmail, and the possibility of arbitrary salary deductions or dismissals without recourse.

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a parallel economy within the parallel economy