What BC Heard From Gig Workers as It Plans to Regulate the Industry

An Uber driver's vehicle is seen in Vancouver on Jan. 24, 2020. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

As British Columbia considers regulating the gig economy, including app-based ride-share and food-delivery services, it spent months consulting with workers, platform companies, and academics. On April 12, the province published the feedback it got.

As with similar plans to regulate the gig economy in other jurisdictions, the debate in B.C. centres on a trade-off in having the flexibility of independent work but losing out on the benefits offered by a more formal employer-employee relationship.

The government hosted in-person roundtable discussions, virtual meetings, and issued an online survey, all of which brought in feedback from more than 1,100 workers. For more than half of them, this app-based gig work is their main source of income.

They said they struggle with low pay for some assignments, lack of sick leave or other such benefits and protections. They are also unable to contest unfair terminations or deactivations.

They value the flexibility they have to stop work when they want, to choose their hours, and to work across multiple platforms.

Flexibility

Platform companies told B.C.’s Ministry of Labour that they can only offer this flexibility because of the informal arrangements they have with workers.

“They felt that if platform companies were compelled to treat workers as employees and pay a minimum hourly wage, platform companies would no longer be able to allow workers to pick and choose jobs or work on multiple apps simultaneously,” the ministry’s report said.

For many drivers, this is a side-hustle, and they work less than 10 hours per week, the companies said. Many workers are caregivers and rely on app-based work to supplement household income while meeting family needs. Some drivers are covered by benefits from their spouse’s employment, the companies told the ministry.

“Not every worker does gig work as their main thing. Some even like the flexibility of having to, say, drive for Uber only during the weekends,” said Supriya Routh, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s Peter A. Allard School of Law, in an interview with The Epoch Times in January.

“I think the government needs to understand that the priorities, considerations, aspirations of these different categories of gig workers … are different. That nuance must be there in the law. Otherwise I don’t think the law is going to be very effective,” Routh said.

Though many apps provide flexibility, they still restrict a worker’s freedom in such a way that the workers should not officially be considered “independent,” academics told the ministry.

Are Workers ‘Independent’?

“Given their limited bargaining power and the degree of control that platform companies exercise over their work,” they should not be considered independent contractors, the report said, summing up input from academics.

For example, workers are often penalized for refusing low-paying or potentially dangerous assignments, so their freedom to refuse an assignment is inhibited to some degree. Drivers get paid as low as $2 for some food deliveries. Bicycle riders especially take issue with having to go to unsafe neighbourhoods, the report said.

Workers complained that there’s often a lack of transparency, whereby they don’t know how much they will be paid for a job until they have completed it.

Minimum Wage, Benefits

The companies told the ministry that a competitive labour market encourages them to offer competitive earnings without the government having to impose a minimum wage. But, some companies—notably Uber Canada—said they would support a guaranteed minimum wage of 120 percent for engaged time.

Several companies said they would support occupational accident insurance as a minimum standard across the industry.

Brice Sopher, vice-president of Canadian advocacy group Gig Workers United, told The Epoch Times in January that these kinds of benefits are “lower than what an employee would have,” adding that, “If we say ‘OK, well, Uber is giving a little bit,’ we’ve said there’s now a new standard, a lower standard.”

Regulating the Growing Industry

The gig economy is growing rapidly in Canada, with Statistics Canada data released in January showing that 79,000 Canadians had provided rides through platforms such as Uber in the past year, and 207,000 had provided delivery services through apps.

B.C. was a latecomer to the industry, only allowing Uber and similar companies to operate in the province starting in 2020.

In early 2020, south of the B.C. border, in California, regulations meant to protect app-based gig workers took effect. They ballooned, however, into restrictions on freelancers in various fields—wedding planners, actors, musicians, sports coaches, and more.

The legislation, Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) led to years of conflict as workers sought to regain their independent contractor status.

“[The] government acknowledges that misclassification is a core concern,” B.C.’s labour ministry told The Epoch Times via email in January. “It is imperative that we learn from other jurisdictions, but our focus is on a Made-in-BC approach.”

It said the government “believes that B.C.’s employment laws should reflect the needs of modern workplaces, both for workers and businesses.”