The B.C. government announced Thursday that it is enacting new rules to ensure Uber and food delivery services drivers get paid a minimum wage.
The new rules set the minimum wage for drivers at 120 per cent of the province’s current minimum wage.
That works out at $20.10 per hour with the difference meant to account for the downtime between trips.
Drivers will also now be protected under WorkSafeBC.
Workers will be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits, including vocational rehabilitation services, for work-related injuries, the province said in a statement.
Platform companies will be responsible for registering for coverage with WorkSafeBC and paying premiums; following health and safety rules to keep workers safe; reporting injuries and diseases; and investigating significant incidents.
Ride companies will be paying their premiums and will be subject to a string of new transparency requirements.
“These are the workers who have been supplying these services,” Labour Minister Harry Bains said.
“But they told us during the consultation that they didn’t even know what the customer paid them. And they don’t know the customer, don’t know what their workers are getting as part of that fare and they don’t know what the trip will look like. And they didn’t know if they got beat up or get hurt at workplaces, would they be covered by the worker’s compensation.
There are an estimated 11,000 ride-hailing drivers and 27,000 food-delivery drivers working in B.C.
In a statement, B.C.’s Federation of Labour president Sussanne Skidmore said while this is progress, it still leaves workers without the same set of protections provided to other workers in the province.
“We are deeply concerned over where this plan falls short – especially because it denies workers key protections under the law, like paid sick leave,” Skidmore said in a statement.
“For most workers in B.C., when you go to work each day, you get paid for all your time at work,” BCFED Secretary-Treasurer Hermender Singh Kailley added.
“But under this plan, workers are only covered for ‘engaged time.’ Even on a great day, workers have told us they’re getting paid for — at best — 60 per cent of their time. So while that 120 per cent figure sounds great at first, it’s hard to see how it gets them to the minimum wage.”