Bike and car couriers at Foodora aim to unionize with CUPW
TORONTO, May 1, 2019 /CNW/ - Foodora bike and car couriers today announced their plans to unionize with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).
Foodora is an international, app-based company that facilitates online food ordering and delivery. They have operations in cities across Canada, with Toronto being their largest Canadian market. Foodora charges restaurants 30 percent per order and only pays their couriers $1/km travelled from the restaurant to the customer's door. The couriers receive $4.50 per order paid directly by the customers.
"What we want is simple and achievable," says Hunter Sanassian, a bike courier, "We work in some of the most dangerous conditions in the city. Many of us have been injured on the job. All we want is to be respected as workers and paid fairly by this profitable company."
While Foodora controls much of the couriers' work and administers discipline like any other boss, it classifies couriers as 'independent contractors' effectively taking away any legal labour protections including EI, sick days, and guaranteed income.
"Over the last 30 years worker rights have been dismantled, leaving a workforce that is struggling to simply survive," says Deena Ladd, coordinator at the Toronto Workers Action Centre. "We need to collectively fight back against precarious work such as misclassified and temporary jobs that have saturated the labour market today."
"As the gig economy grows we are seeing workers who are entirely unprotected," says Mike Palecek, CUPW National President. "Now is the time to win rights and protections for these workers. The campaign to unionize Foodora couriers will set important precedents for labour rights. Couriers are not machines and they deserve to feel safe and respected at work."
SOURCE Canadian Union of Postal Workers
please contact, Emilie Tobin, CUPW Communications - [email protected], or 613-882-2742.
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