5 Nov 2019: The Day Food Delivery Riders Fought Back!
The story of how a ground-up movement lit a spark for the revival of Singapore's labour movement.
This was initially posted on SG Riders’ Instagram page. SG Riders is a grassroots network of food delivery riders.
On 4th November 2019, then Senior Minister of State (SMS) for Transport Lam Pin Min announced that from 5th November 2019 onwards, e-scooters (PMDs) would be permanently banned from footpaths.
Overnight, the rice-bowls of 7,000 food delivery riders on PMDs completely disappeared.
In 2013, the LTA laid out plans to facilitate more walking and cycling in its Land Transport Masterplan. LTA began promoting the use of bicycles and PMDs as part of “active mobility”. As a result, by 2019 there were 100,000 registered users of PMDs, 7,000 of them were food delivery riders.
Despite calls by other MPs to ban PMDs as early as 2014, the ministry of transport (MOT) had always been against a ban and instead proposed regulations to improve safety. This included speed and weight limits.
In July 2019 the government banned PMDs that were not UL2272-certified. Food delivery riders listened and spent thousands of dollars to buy the appropriate PMD.
This brings us to Lam’s announcement of the PMD ban on 4th Nov 2019. If you were a PMD food delivery rider, how would YOU have felt hearing that?
On the night of 4th November, food delivery rider Kelvin Ho shared his frustrations with the government’s announcement of a ban in a 10 minute FB video that went viral. In it, he vowed that he “will not vote for PAP”. It accumulated thousands of likes and shares.
For the next 8 days, food delivery riders began mobilising big groups to attend various Meet-the-People sessions (MPS) to propose their ideas for alternatives to improving safety. On 5th November, about 30 riders went to Minister Shanmugam’s MPS in Yishun. The next day more than 50 riders attended PM Lee’s MPS in AMK and on the 7th 60 riders attended Minister Desmond Lee’s MPS in Jurong.
In response to the riders’ pressure, on 8th November the government announced a $7 million e-scooter trade-in grant together with the delivery platforms. The grant was meant to assist riders to switch their devices to PABs or e-bikes. The riders were not pleased. They responded by organising even more riders to MPSes every other day to share their views.
On 11th November, 70 riders attended then-DPM Tharman’s MPS at Jurong. Riders submitted a 10 page letter filled with concrete ideas on alternatives to the ban. The letter argued that without fixing the cycling infrastructure, no one will be safer from the PMD ban.
On the 9th day, the resistance came to a climax. On 12th Nov, more than 300 food delivery riders and retailers showed up at Lam Pin Min’s MPS at Sengkang West. Lam was after-all the face of the ban and riders felt he had the power to address their issues. Many riders attended with their families. Some with babies in their arms and prams.
Lam reiterated that the ban would not be reversed. Many riders left the MPS without wanting to speak to the media. They sounded their horns and shouted unhappily that nothing would change.
Although the government’s $7 million grant did not solve the issue, riders may not have received anything at all if no one had bothered to resist the ban.
In December 2020, the government announced the creation of the National Delivery Champions Association (NDCA). In January 2023, NTUC assistant secretary general and MP Desmond Choo publicly said that the riders’ response to the PMD ban showed a “greater desire for (platform workers) to organise themselves”. Without sending this signal to the government, would the government have bothered to propose policy reforms to improve the rights of food delivery riders?
In the 2020 General Election, former SMS Lam Pin Min lost his seat. As Lam became the face of the ban, he earned the hatred of many riders. For the first time in Singapore’s history, a second GRC fell to the opposition.
The riders’ resistance inspired students, environmentalists, and workers to fight for better workers’ rights in Singapore. For far too long, many felt that it was impossible to do anything due to the harsh laws against strikes, unionising and assembling. However, in November 2019, the riders creatively fought back, setting an example that everyone can learn from.
We salute the heroes of November 2019. Their courageous actions have inspired many and brought hope to the workers of Singapore.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!