Food delivery companies say they are urgently investigating whether a motorcyclist killed on Sydney’s roads overnight was a gig worker.
Police said on Friday that a man in his 30s died in St Peters, in inner-west Sydney, after his motorcycle and a car crashed just after midnight.
The rider was treated by paramedics but died at the scene, while the car’s driver, a 46-year-old, was taken to Royal Alfred Hospital for mandatory testing.
Police would not confirm on Friday whether the motorcyclist was a gig worker.
But delivery company DoorDash told a parliamentary inquiry on Friday it was urgently investigating whether the rider was working for its platform.
Rebecca Burrows, DoorDash’s general manager, said the company had offered assistance to NSW police during its investigations.
“I would like to acknowledge that we are aware of a tragic traffic accident last night reportedly involving a delivery worker,” she said. “We are also urgently investigating whether this accident involved a dasher. At this stage, we cannot confirm whether this incident involved a dasher on our platform.”
Uber said on Friday that the car – not the motorcycle – involved in the crash was an Uber rideshare.
The company does not know whether the motorcycle rider was working for another delivery company but it is understood there was no active UberEats delivery at the location and time of the incident.
“We were shocked to learn of this tragic incident in Sydney overnight,” a spokesperson said. “Our thoughts and condolences are with the motorcycle rider’s family and friends”
“We do know that the accident involved a vehicle driven by an Uber rideshare driver partner. We have reached out to the driver partner and the passenger to offer our assistance.”
The death comes as the Senate examines Labor’s proposed industrial relations reforms to grant better protection to gig workers, via its Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023.
The Senate education and employment legislation committee heard on Friday from Canberra-based gig workers who complained of significant pressure to rush deliveries or face deactivation by delivery companies.
One gig worker, Helen You, said she had been urged to rush to make delivery times despite being stuck in traffic jams or waiting on late food preparation at restaurants.
“Some delivery riders have died rushing through the streets,” she said. “We have to ask ourselves, what is the price of life?”
The death overnight is the third in the space of just four months. Delivery riders Akshay Deepak Doultani and Adil Abbas died in July and August respectively.
Transport Workers’ Union national secretary Michael Kaine said the deaths showed the urgent need for reform.
“After today’s tragic news of another delivery rider death, it is clear that transport gig workers can’t wait for those standards,” he said.
“This reform now has unanimous support from right across the industry. Federal Parliament must pass the Closing Loopholes bill now, not next year, so that companies have the immediate mandate and certainty to commence this urgent reform.”
Kasey Tomkins, the Unions ACT secretary, also told the Senate inquiry that the overnight death highlighted the dangerous nature of gig work.
“I’d just like to bring to the attention of the senators that in the last 24 hours another driver lost their life,” she said. “This goes beyond your basic rights. This is a human right. If you are forced to rush to make a delivery and you weigh up risking deactivation and losing the ability to pay your bills, if you weigh that up against your own safety, your own life and the lives of those on the road, then that is something that should not be happening in our country.”
