Rideshare workers can earn less than minimum wage. But an Ontario law starting July 1 misses a chance to fix that, advocates say

Hamilton Spectator

2 days ago

Eight hours after picking up and dropping off passengers for Uber on a sweltering summer day, Earla Phillips had just $49 to show for it. After factoring in the $30 she spent on gas that day, 'I literally made bupkis,' she said.
With a decade of experience driving for Uber, Phillips, 63, said her earnings from app-based gig work have plummeted in recent years as the number of rideshare and food couriers on the road has skyrocketed, amid a pandemic-driven surge in delivery app usage.
Phillips, who is also the vice-president of the Rideshare Drivers Association of Ontario, said she can often wait hours for a trip as an increasing number of drivers compete for jobs, and she now depends on juggling multiple apps to earn a living.
'Why are we being devalued?' said Phillips. 'My providing a service to someone shouldn't come at the cost of my poverty.'
Phillips is one of thousands of Ontario's gig workers who spend long hours on the road working for app-based platforms, often earning less than minimum wage once expenses like gas and vehicle maintenance are factored in. On July 1 the province's Digital Platform Workers' Rights Act is set to take effect, promising minimum wage standards for gig workers on apps like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash.
But labour advocates say the legislation falls short.
The rules in Ontario guarantee a minimum wage of $17.20 an hour for 'engaged time' — the hours drivers spend actively completing trips or deliveries — but ignore the time spent waiting for work, which
many drivers say now makes up a large portion of their day.
Experts warn that unless all hours worked are covered, gig workers will continue to bear the financial burden while companies avoid paying for much of their labour.
Only paying workers for active time downloads the costs of waiting for orders onto individuals, said labour-relations lawyer Ryan White of Cavalluzzo LLP, adding that it's 'time that is necessary for app companies to deliver services but ultimately gets paid for by workers.'
'It would be like being a firefighter and only being paid when you're fighting fire. It's not the way that we think about work.'
In an emailed statement, Ontario's Labour Ministry said it is 'proud to lead the country' with 'the first legislation of its kind to establish new enforceable rights and core protections' for digital platform workers, but it did not address concerns about unpaid time waiting for work.
A recent
city hall staff report analyzing drivers' wages
found that
after expenses such as insurance, fuel, repairs
and financing, app-based drivers made $5.97 an hour when accounting for all time spent on the app. Uber has rejected that figure, and says its drivers make more than $30 per hour of 'engaged time,' not including tips.
A
Star investigation
has detailed how Uber Eats delivery workers can spend hours a day chasing work around the city with no guarantee they'll be matched with a job.
Uber Canada spokesperson Keerthana Rang in an email said that 'since introducing upfront offers, average driver earnings have remained consistent in Ontario.'
The engaged-time model 'is unique to rideshare and delivery services because a driver can be 'active' or 'engaged' with Uber but still be 'online' with other apps, Rang said.
Lyft, DoorDash and Skip the Dishes did not respond to requests for comment.
J.J. Fueser, a researcher with not-for-profit advocacy group RideFair TO, argues that workers only use multiple apps at once 'because they have to — if they got good work from one app they wouldn't need others.'
A major problem is that there's no limit on labour supply, and workers 'are being made to wait around with impunity and it's free for these businesses,' Fueser said.
Nearly
700,000 Canadians worked for digital platform apps
such as Uber, Lyft and DoorDash in 2024, up from 468,000 people in 2023, according to data from Statistics Canada. The number of digital workers increased from 1.7 per cent of the population from the ages of 15 to 69 in 2023, to 2.3 per cent of that age group in 2024.
For six weeks, I hustled for orders and made a shockingly low wage. Uber says my experience was
One solution is for companies to 'cap the overall number of workers so that we don't oversaturate or supply the marketplace with gig workers all waiting to do a limited number of jobs,' said Thorben Wieditz, also a researcher with RideFair TO.
But labour advocates say that the crux of the problem is that app companies for years
have gotten around paying drivers minimum wage
by misclassifying gig workers as independent contractors, excluding workers from the full set of rights and benefits they would otherwise be entitled to as employees.
Many digital platform workers are newcomers who depend on the income, and capping the number of drivers is little more than a 'band-aid solution,' said White.
Statistics Canada data showed that immigrants who had arrived in the last five years were more than three times more likely to have done paid work through a digital platform compared with people born in Canada.
'There's a reason why people are doing this work — it is low-barrier,' said White. 'People need to be able to find work and the cap just simply ignores that reality.'