WORKPLACE RELATIONS
Uber Eats, DoorDash and the Transport Workers’ Union struck a joint position behind the Fair Work Commission’s new minimum standards order, which sets guaranteed hourly rates and insurance requirements for an estimated 250,000 food delivery workers from 17 August.
Australia’s Fair Work Commission has issued its first legally enforceable minimum standards order for gig economy workers, establishing a guaranteed pay floor and new protections for on-demand food delivery workers from 17 August 2026, a milestone with direct implications for how labour hire and platform-based staffing operates in Australia.
What the order covers
The Interim On-Demand Delivery Employee-like Worker Minimum Standards Order applies to independent contractors delivering food, drinks, alcohol and groceries via apps, and to the digital labour platforms that engage them, though it excludes delivery vehicles with a carrying capacity above one tonne.
According to the Fair Work Commission, corroborated by the Fair Work Ombudsman and ABC News, covered workers are guaranteed at least $31.30 an hour on a bicycle or e-bike, $31.80 on a motorbike and $32 in a car, calculated for engaged time between accepting and completing a delivery. Platform operators must also fund personal accident insurance, provide a gig worker information statement, and pay workplace delegates for training time.
A rare joint position from union and platforms
The order followed what the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) described as a historic joint consent position with Uber Eats and DoorDash, developed over several years of negotiation after the TWU first applied for the order in 2024 under the federal government’s Closing Loopholes laws. TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said gig workers had been left outside of Australia’s workplace systems for far too long, and that the standards were something the union intended to build on over time.
Uber Eats Australia and New Zealand managing director Ed Kitchen said, in comments provided by the company, that the framework proved fair standards and flexibility can co-exist, while DoorDash’s head of public policy for APAC, Central Asia and the Middle East, Maggie Lloyd, called it a defining moment for Australia’s on-demand economy. As these are characterisations offered by the platforms themselves, they are attributed here to Uber and DoorDash rather than stated as fact.
Implications for the wider workforce sector
Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth described the decision as a milestone enabled by the Closing Loopholes reforms. The Fair Work Commission is reportedly considering separate applications covering other gig economy and road transport workers, including last-mile delivery, which would extend the regulated worker framework further into the labour hire and logistics sectors HireNote’s readers operate in.
Sources
Staffing Industry Analysts, “Australia introduces first minimum standards for gig delivery workers,” 17 August 2026 — https://www.staffingindustry.com/news/global-daily-news/australia-introduces-first-minimum-standards-for-gig-delivery-workers
Fair Work Ombudsman, “New minimum standards for on-demand delivery workers” — https://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/workplace-laws/fair-work-commission-orders/minimum-standards-order-on-demand-delivery-workers
Transport Workers’ Union, “Food delivery workers to get world-first minimum standards on pay and conditions from August” — https://www.twu.com.au/press/food-delivery-workers-to-get-world-first-minimum-standards-on-pay-and-conditions-from-august/
ABC News, “Food delivery workers to receive better pay under new minimum standards,” 17 August 2026 — https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-17/what-is-changing-about-how-food-delivery-workers-are-paid/107036602
Uber Newsroom, “A Historic Milestone: Australia’s First Minimum Standards for On-Demand Delivery Workers” — https://www.uber.com/au/en/newsroom/delivery-minimumstandardsorder/
