Fairwork Philippines 2025 Ratings: Labour on the Edge – Riding through Extreme Weather and Precarious Labour

Fairwork Philippines Report 2025

The Fairwork Philippines 2025 report tackles the urgent global issue of climate change. Its resulting extreme weather conditions bring heavy rains, flooding, and severe heat to a climate vulnerable country like the Philippines and spell another occupational hazard to platform workers.

Protecting the health, safety, and security of platform workers was introduced in the 2023 report and the discussion continues in this latest edition. Supplementing the thematic focus is climate change’s intersection with systemic inequalities affecting the gender minority – women and LGBTQIA+ – whose personal narratives are richly captured in the Workers’ Stories.

The third round of assessment evaluated nine platforms in ride-hailing and delivery services – Angkas, Foodpanda, GrabCar, GrabFood/Express, JoyRide Car, JoyRide MC Taxi, Lalamove, Maxim, and Move It – yielded scores of basic standards of fairness.

Workers shoulder more costs apart from the burden of daily operational costs that further contribute to the unstable pay and financial insecurity. They are exposed to harsh working conditions exacerbated by extreme weather, but still with limited social protection. Opaque algorithmic management fails to adjust task allocation and performance monitoring during climate-related disruptions. For the gender minority, it’s more than the challenges of harassment, but also of prejudice, gender-differentiated health concerns, and negotiating domestic and care work.

On the other hand, the report highlights best practices and bright spots, too. The International Labor Organization agreed to negotiate binding standards for platform workers with the Philippine government taking an active role in an upcoming convention. Locally, protests staged and legal actions filed in different provinces, led by a worker union, have borne fruit with wins in local courts. Policy recommendations enumerated in the report are accompanied with actionable steps for different sectors. Location-based platform work continues to grow beyond the pandemic years. For it to flourish sustainably, comprehensive and inclusive reforms that are fairer for workers must be implemented.