Import-export employee, waitress, senior care worker, delivery rider — Yap Mei Choo has had an eventful career.
With the equivalent of a Primary 4 education, each career change marked a way for her to improve her lot in life.
The 50-year-old became a union member over 10 years ago due to the NTUC GIFT insurance policy benefit and has been urging others to do the same.
NTUC GIFT is a group term life insurance policy exclusively for members of NTUC-affiliated unions and associations that covers Death, Total/Partial and Permanent Disability of up to $40,000.
A Bumpy Career Path
Last year, the longtime union member switched from being a waitress to a GrabFood delivery rider to enjoy the flexibility of gig work.
“It gives me the freedom to choose when I want to work. If I want to work, I work. If I don’t feel like working, I can choose not to work,” she said.
Delivery work has other perils besides a demanding schedule to earn more money.
In January this year, while delivering in rainy weather, Mei Choo fell down a slippery slope, badly injuring her arm.
Since her accident, she has been unable to work. It was a big blow to her income, leaving her struggling to make ends meet.
Fortunately, she was able to apply for the NTUC Care Fund (Work Injury Relief) scheme and received $250 worth of NTUC FairPrice vouchers for daily essentials.
“I used the vouchers to buy groceries at NTUC [FairPrice]. I’ve used over $100, which has helped, especially with things so expensive nowadays,” Mei Choo said.
The National Delivery Champions Association (NDCA), which looks after the well-being of freelance delivery workers like Mei Choo, is one of the three platform worker associations that introduced the scheme last year.
It’s a first-of-a-kind financial assistance scheme to support point-to-point drivers and delivery workers who sustain injuries. The initiative aims to provide crucial short-term relief for affected workers while they await the outcome of other assistance programmes or insurance claims.
While an accident may prompt people to switch to a safer profession, Mei Choo is contemplating a less challenging schedule instead.
In the meantime, she looks forward to the upcoming legislation enabling associations to represent platform workers like her on workplace-related matters.
“Representation is a good thing. However, it depends on whether the platform companies will recognise the association. It’s best if there is an agreement between the platform companies and the association,” Mei Choo said.
One of the issues she hopes NDCA can tackle soon is the earnings.
“Last time, we were able to earn a lot more. Now, no matter how hard we try, it is not like before,” the delivery rider explained.
A Personal Journey
Mei Choo’s personal life has also had its fair share of challenges.
Since she married in 1994, she’s moved around a lot, sometimes living in rental flats with her three children.
“At first, we had our own flat, a resale HDB flat, and then a BTO [Build-To-Order] flat. After my husband passed, we had to sell the BTO flat to pay some debts.
“We ended up renting two HDB rooms, one for my children to use as a hall and the other for the family to sleep in.
“Later, we could rent a three-room flat with my savings and income. Most of my salary went to the rental, so we had to scrimp as much as we could for food,” recalled Mei Choo.
After losing her husband, the mother-of-three singlehandedly raised her children until she met her current spouse, who is also a delivery rider, in 2014.
“One of the reasons we got married was to get a flat. I was worried that my children would not accept my new husband if we lived together in the same flat,” Mei Choo said.
Her children are now in their 20s and are working or studying.