Indonesia gig workers push to keep partner status in bill

Indonesia's parliament just moved a landmark labor bill one step closer to becoming law, and millions of ride-hailing drivers are watching closely. On October 5, Commission IX of the House of Representatives and the government approved the working committee's report on the proposed Employment Protection Bill, sending it to a plenary session for final approval. At the heart of the debate is a question that will shape the working lives of Indonesia gig workers: should online motorcycle taxi drivers remain "partners" of the platforms, or become formal employees with full labor rights?

According to Batam News Asia, which cited reporting by the Jakarta Globe and Kompas, representatives of online motorcycle taxi drivers — known locally as ojol — told Commission IX they want the option to remain partners rather than being automatically reclassified as employees. The drivers argued that the partnership model lets them choose their own working hours, work across multiple platforms, and treat driving as either a primary income or a side hustle alongside other jobs.

Why drivers want to stay partners

For many drivers, flexibility is the whole point. Formal employment could bring requirements that shut people out: possible age and education thresholds, restrictions affecting drivers with disabilities, and a more rigid employment structure. Representatives warned during parliamentary discussions that reclassification could reduce access to platform work for people who struggle to enter conventional employment in the first place. For Indonesia gig workers, that flexibility is often the whole reason the job beats formal employment.

The driver population is far from uniform. The Confederation of South Sulawesi Ride-Hail Drivers' Unions (KSOS) said in a September statement that status should reflect actual working conditions, not just the existence of an app. As reported by Jawawa.id, KSOS chairman Hairun H argued that some drivers depend heavily on a single platform while others juggle several apps, work limited hours, or combine driving with trading and permanent jobs. A single legal label, he said, could flatten that diversity.

Still, not every driver agrees. Lawmakers acknowledged that some Indonesia gig workers actively favor formal worker status because it would open clearer access to labor protections and social security. The split has pushed the debate toward a harder question: can stronger protections be delivered without killing the flexibility drivers value?

The protection gap behind the debate

The stakes are enormous. Analysts estimate around 2.3M people now earn through gig work in Indonesia, a sector that exploded after app-based ride-hailing arrived around 2010 with homegrown Gojek and regional giant Grab, according to Indonesia at Melbourne. Yet gig workers sit outside the general labor law: under Transportation Ministerial Regulation No. 12/2019, ojol drivers are classified as "partners," a label rooted in the basic employment definitions of Indonesian law rather than in any real bargaining equality.

That classification has concrete costs. Research published by ObserverID found most drivers lack access to BPJS employment and health insurance, work long hours without rest guarantees, and struggle to exercise collective bargaining rights even through unions like the Indonesian Transportation Workers Union (SPAI). Presidential Regulation 27/2026, which capped platform deductions at 8%, did not change the underlying partner status — leaving drivers, in the researchers' words, in legal limbo.

For young Indonesia gig workers, who make up a large share of new platform entrants, the outcome will define what gig work can offer: a flexible on-ramp to earning, or a trap of long hours without a safety net. The same tension is playing out globally — the EU's Platform Work Directive, for example, sets a December 2026 deadline for member states to write employment-presumption rules into national law.

What happens next

The bill is not law yet. With the working committee's report approved, the Employment Protection Bill now heads to a plenary session of the House, where lawmakers will vote on whether to pass it. Commission IX has said the law is intended to strengthen welfare, safety, and legal protection for workers, including those earning through digital platforms — and signaled that more detailed rules for the digital economy may require separate technical regulation. The decision will directly shape how Indonesia gig workers are classified, paid, and protected for years to come.

Whatever the plenary decides, the compromise taking shape matters beyond Indonesia. If lawmakers find a model that protects Indonesia gig workers without erasing their flexibility, it could become a template for the dozens of countries wrestling with the same platform-work puzzle. If they don't, millions of drivers will keep working in the gray zone — partners in name, workers in everything but rights. For Indonesia gig workers, the plenary vote is the moment that decides which future they get.

Sources: Batam News Asia, ObserverID, Jawawa.id