The deaths prompted calls for immediate legislative reform from Labor and the Transport Workers Union who alleged Safe Work NSW,the workplace regulator,was first alerted to the incidents by the union — a claim Uber disputes.
"Our thoughts are with their friends and their family,"said Michael Kaine,the union's national secretary."This is gut-wrenching,it's heartless and it is brutal because the system that's supposed to protect workers like Dede and Xiaojun,didn't even know that they had died."
In a statement,an Uber spokeswoman said they had notified Safe Work of the injury as soon as the company became aware of it and offered support to the rider's family.
Hungry Panda declined to comment but in a statement to Chinese-language media said it had supported the rider's housemate and told its workers to be careful.
Safe Work NSW confirmed it had been notified of two fatal traffic incidents involving delivery riders and said police were investigating.
The deaths reignited anger among delivery riders,who say they are being mistreated by the platforms they work for,many of which are run by multinational technology companies.
One Menulog rider,who only wanted to be identified by his first name,Mohammed,said a close friend had been assaulted by a stranger yelling racist abuse while working in Randwick in September and received no financial help to fix his broken teeth.