App-based Delivery Workers of Toronto Unite to Fix the Gig Economy

TORONTO, Feb. 25, 2021 /CNW/ - The Gig Workers United campaign launched today with a bold scope and agenda for change. Delivery workers say the status quo is simply unsafe and unliveable for those whose jobs are controlled by apps. The workers have come together to call on employers and legislators to make fundamental changes.

"We have to stand up for ourselves ? the streets don't look out for us, the apps don't look out for us, so we're looking out for each other and collectively calling out a bad business model," says Narada Kiondo, one of the courier spokespersons. "The way it is just can't continue ? if the gig economy is going to work for our society than it can't be based on squeezing delivery workers and restaurants for profit, and dodging our labour standards. And we're going to persist, and we'll win, because our bodies and our livelihoods are on the line."

The roots of this struggle are in experiences including the successes of Justice for Foodora Couriers, which showed over the last two years that collective action in the gig economy is possible, that victories are there to be won, and that the organizing campaign itself makes a real difference in workers' lives. One year ago, the couriers won the legal right to join a union, and the vast majority voted yes.

Foodora, the employer that was the target of that struggle, is no longer operating in Canada, so the workers have broadened their scope in a new drive to organize delivery workers for all the apps. Working conditions, health issues and risks are common, and many couriers work for multiple apps. Now there is a common home for them to work collectively on their demands.

Jan Simpson, National President, spoke about how CUPW has welcomed the delivery workers into the organization: "The couriers have shown that traditional union organizing is possible in this space. But they've gone farther than that, with community-organizing tactics and collective mutual aid. They've formed a worker-led organization that we're proud to support because their fresh energy and ideas are what it takes to improve working conditions and reject silicon valley's model of exploitation."

"Our demands are reasonable but our vision is big," says Arash Manouchehrian, another courier. "We need liveable wages, and transparency on wages and scheduling. We need health and safety protections, we need bathroom access, warm-ups, breaks, all the things that most of our society expects as basics for all workers. We have rights, and it's up to us to assert those rights until we get the system fixed."

SOURCE Canadian Union of Postal Workers