Workers unions are calling for better employment conditions for gig workers, including ride share and food delivery drivers, following a land mark decision by the Fair Work Commission.

A ruling by the New South Wales commission yesterday, found a Deliveroo driver was an employee, not a contractor, and was therefore unlawfully dismissed.

Adelaide University workplace relations and employment-law expert, Professor Andrew Stewart, said better conditions for workers won’t necessarily be good news for consumers.

“If you lower minimum wages, you get less people spending money and the economy as a whole takes a hit,” he told Liam Bartlett.

“Do we care more about lower paid workers having a living wage and going out and spending that money in goods and services and bolstering the economy that way?

“Or do we think it is better that consumers get lower prices no matter what?”

He said it is cheaper for companies, under their current business model, to take workers on as contractors, rather than employees.

“They make their profits by delivering food or providing other services without having to meet the labor costs that are associated with employing workers.”

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(Photo: iStock by Getty Images.)