Gig workers played an essential role keeping our neighbours safe and keeping the restaurant industry afloat during the pandemic, yet they are denied basic rights at work available to all other employees. Now the Ford Conservatives are attacking all Ontario workers. Recommendations from the Ontario Workforce Recovery Advisory Committee would create a third class of worker with less rights than full employees.
This is a Bill of Rights created by gig workers endorsed by Gig Workers United (CUPW), Uber Drivers United (UFCW), and the Ontario Federation of Labour to outline what minimum rights our governments must guarantee to ensure fairness and non-discriminatory treatment for gig workers.
- A worker is a worker; Full employment rights with no carve-outs from minimum wage, sick leave, vacation pay and other minimum employment standards.
- Payment for all hours of work: Paid time from when workers sign in until they sign out of the app with a clear and concise breakdown of how pay is calculated.
- Compensation for necessary work related expenses to ensure gig workers’ real wages are not reduced below the minimum wage
- Full and equal access to regulated benefits programs like Employment Insurance (EI), Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and injury compensation (WSIB).
- Data transparency: access to all data collected and how the algorithm affects workers, including any forms of discipline.
- Make all work count: gig work must count towards Permanent Residency applications.
- Put onus on employers to prove that workers are not employees, instead of workers proving that they are not independent contractors. Enshrine the predictable and purposive ABC test for employment status.
- Recognize gig workers’ right to form a union, with the union they choose, to have a collective voice at work.
- Workers must have the right to negotiate for livable wages and benefits with their employer. Real, worker-led sectoral bargaining to enable meaningful collective bargaining to raise industry standards
- An end to arbitrary deactivations and fair compensation for glitches: Just cause protection against deactivation, access to a clear and free process and enforcement mechanisms for minimum standards. Compensation for technical issues on the platform’s end.
Sign on to support the Gig Workers’ Bill of Rights.