It rewards the workers that its metrics deem to be good performers with the first crack at the best shifts. It punishes others by restricting their ability to pick up shifts.
One courier was even instructed by Foodora dispatch to complete a delivery before fixing his bicycle, which he felt was not safe to ride, according to documents filed in a groundbreaking case before the Ontario Labour Relations Board and obtained by the Star.
With that kind of information before the labour board it’s hard to see how Foodora will maintain its argument that its Toronto bike couriers are independent contractors because it exercises little control or direction over how they do their work.
And that’s a good thing. Not just for Foodora couriers, but potentially for other workers in the gig economy and beyond who are misclassified as independent contractors, which strips them of basic employment rights such as the ability to unionize.
Workers in more traditional fields of precarious low-wage work, from cleaning services to nail salons to trucking, have long been misclassified as independent contractors.
The rise of the gig economy has just brought these practices to greater public attention. Indeed, some of the global ride-hailing companies, such as Uber, and food delivery firms have publicly stated that their business model actually depends on being able to exploit these employment loopholes.
Foodora, of course, says classifying workers as independent contractors provides welcome “flexibility” for both the couriers and the company and is a model that has shown to be “working well for both sides.”
It’s obviously not. That’s why Foodora’s Toronto bike couriers are looking to unionize. Their attempt to do that is what has brought this issue — are they independent contractors or not? — before the Ontario labour board.
The bid by these couriers to become the first app-based workforce in Canada to join a union is a groundbreaking case that could potentially alter what are considered acceptable working conditions in the gig economy and beyond.
The hearing began last fall and arguments by Foodora and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers continue this month.
We hope the labour board finds in the couriers’ favour by ruling that they are dependent contractors — a middle ground between employee and independent contractor. That would give them the right to unionize.
But ultimately these battles to parse out the application of outdated labour laws to modern workplace realities should not be left up to labour boards or courts across Canada and around the world.
This is a government responsibility.
The Ontario government needs to address the numerous gaps in worker protections. It will take stronger provincial legislation to force the Foodoras and Ubers of the world, not to mention more traditional employers, to treat their workers fairly. That includes properly classifying workers, whether they are dependent contractors or direct employees with the right to minimum wage, unemployment insurance and paid sick days.
The nature of work is changing. But that shouldn’t mean that jobs, particularly those for low-paid workers, just get worse and worse.
Ontario needs to tackle the widening gaps in worker protections. If it doesn’t, companies in the gig economy and traditional sectors alike will continue to exploit loopholes — and their workers.
A business model that relies on the exploitation of others is a terrible step backwards. It can’t be the way of the future.
Cases before labour boards and courts may improve things for some workers. But it will take political leadership to really fix things.
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2020/01/07/government-must-step-in-to-fix-the-gig-economy.html
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