By CESAR JOLITO III
The General Alliance of Workers Association (GAWA) has slammed a recent “workers’ happiness” survey released by an online job research company, calling it “preposterous” and disconnected from the realities faced by delivery riders and drivers across the country.
In a press statement issued yesterday, GAWA Secretary General Wennie Sancho criticized the survey for allegedly overlooking the hardships endured by gig economy workers, particularly delivery riders who work long hours under intense heat and pressure to meet app-imposed quotas and deadlines.
Sancho said delivery workers continue to suffer from what he described as “job oppression and exploitation,” noting that many riders are classified as independent contractors to prevent them from receiving benefits and protections normally granted to regular employees.
According to GAWA, delivery riders and drivers lack basic labor safeguards such as minimum wage, overtime pay, holiday pay, security of tenure, and social protection coverage, including government benefits.
The labor group also pointed to the absence of health and accident insurance, saying workers are often left on their own when they fall ill, encounter road accidents, or are deactivated from digital platforms without due process.
GAWA stressed that online surveys measuring worker satisfaction fail to capture the realities faced by riders, including fears of account deactivation, physical exhaustion from extended working hours, rising fuel and maintenance costs, and penalties caused by traffic, weather conditions, or customer complaints.
The organization argued that such surveys only serve to justify what it called a “business model built on precarity” while delaying government regulation and denying workers the right to organize and collectively bargain.
Citing the 1987 Philippine Constitution, GAWA emphasized that labor is recognized as a primary social and economic force but claimed delivery workers continue to be treated as disposable.
The labor group is now calling on the government to immediately recognize delivery riders and drivers as workers covered by labor standards under the Labor Code.
Among GAWA’s demands are mandatory social protection contributions shared by digital platforms, regulation of algorithmic management systems to prevent abusive quotas and arbitrary deactivation, and the inclusion of delivery workers in wage board and tripartite consultations.
GAWA also urged the Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Trade and Industry, and Congress to enact measures protecting delivery workers before more riders “collapse on the road in the name of convenience.”
A recently published workplace happiness report by an online job search company was criticized over the weekend, as widespread labor rights violations, job insecurity and low wages cast doubt on claims that Filipino workers are generally happy.
Based on the online survey conducted among 1,000 Filipinos from October to November 2025, the Philippines ranked second in Asia in terms of workplace happiness, with 77 percent of Filipino workers saying they are happy with their jobs.
Indonesia topped the list with an 82 percent workplace happiness index./CJ, WDJ