Food couriers and other platform workers will be guaranteed a minimum wage, overtime pay, and sick leave under new rules, Robert Abela has promised.
In a statement, the prime minister said the new regulations will be detailed in the coming days after a framework was recently approved by cabinet.
He said the rules would regulate work contracts so that a platform worker's salary cannot be less than the minimum wage.
It follows reports exposing the working conditions of food delivery drivers and after Malta was given a deadline to adopt an EU law on working conditions.
Hundreds of food couriers living in Malta went on strike in July, likening their working conditions to slavery.
A group of Indian former Bolt food couriers described how they were unable to make the minimum wage, despite working 80-hour weeks.
At the moment, operators like Wolt and Bolt pay couriers per delivery and do not directly employ delivery drivers.
Instead, they subcontract work either to independent contractors, namely EU nationals who casually work on the platform, or employment agencies who recruit non-EU workers.
In both cases, couriers have said this has led to abusive practices and sub-standard working conditions. It remains to be seen how the government’s guarantee will change the working system.
Abela's announcement follows a pre-budget meeting with the UĦM, one of the two unions in Malta that cover the sector. He said the new framework came after the Department for Industrial and Employment Relations finished a study on platform work.
Josef Bugeja, general secretary of the General Workers Union, which has also lobbied for more protection for platform workers, said the new rules could give workers "the dignity of having a place of work and the legal rights that come with it".
An informal spokesperson for couriers who helped organise July’s strike welcomed the news and hoped any loopholes would be closed.
Independent contractors are also concerned that the new regulations might make it unfeasible for platforms to collaborate with them, the unofficial spokesperson said.
“However, I think we may congratulate ourselves on this massive step forward, hoping for a truly regulated market and a stop to modern slavery,” the spokesperson said.
However, the Nationalist Party pointed out that Malta had recently missed an EU deadline to adopt a law against precarious working conditions.
It said that in a "frenzy" to finalise what it had to do months ago, the government "failed to consult with anyone" about the new rules.
"The government has shown again that it is reactive and not proactive, failing to do what is in the best interest of the workers and employers," it said.