How Melbourne’s ‘unseen’ workers are being left behind

Melbourne’s deliver food drivers have no choice but to use fast food outlets as makeshift offices to access basic facilities like toilets.

Yet without a designated place to stop and rest or eat – unlike other city workers – drivers are forced to use fast food outlets and shopping centre food courts as their version of an office. These meeting places are opportunities to use a toilet, grab a bite to eat, and chat with fellow delivery drivers.

“McDonald’s on Chapel Street, Prahran, the one in Richmond, and also Elsternwick are hot spots for delivery drivers,” he said. Now the City of Melbourne is piloting a four-month program to support gig workers at the council-owned Micro-Labs building – a multipurpose hub to provide drivers with a place to rest and meet other drivers.The hub is equipped with amenities including bathrooms, a kitchen and charging points, as well as free food and drinks, providing refuge for workers during extreme weather climate events.

In May, the state government launched the Gig Worker Support Service, the first of its kind in Australia. City of Melbourne Acting Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece said the council would assess the hub’s viability after the pilot program ends.

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