Chinese regulators meet delivery firms

Meeting was aimed at improving safety, labour rights for delivery workers.

BEIJING:

China’s delivery platform companies including Meituan and Alibaba’s Ele.me recently joined a meeting with government regulators on improving safety and labour rights for delivery workers.

Food delivery platforms, in the spotlight due to China’s regulatory reforms, have attracted severe criticism on social media for their treatment of delivery workers, most of who are not covered by basic social and medical insurance.

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The meeting included officials from the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, according to a Saturday notice on WeChat by the Ministry of Emergency Management, which also attended. Firms should strengthen safety and labour rights protections, and not set performance indicators which harm the health of workers, according to the meeting.

Alibaba Group, its supermarket operator Hema Xiansheng, Dada Nexus and other firms also joined the meeting and reported on their efforts to improve safety and labour rights. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2021.

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