B.C. Premier David Eby says app-based companies employing ride-hail and food-delivery workers can "suck it up" as new, first-in-Canada rules come into effect this fall.
The provincial government Wednesday announced news regulations protecting gig workers. Starting Sept. 3 companies like Uber and DoorDash will have to pay 120 per cent of the provincial minimum wage to their employees while working — $20.88 per hour. Ride-hail and food-delivery workers will also see their tips protected and they will become eligible for workers compensation benefits as part of other measures designed to create safe working environments.
The broad coordinates of the legislation became public in the fall, but yesterday's announcement prompted another round of concerns from the companies themselves and business leaders at large.
Bridgitte Anderson, president and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, said in a statement that B.C. companies already contend with some of the highest costs and strictest regulatory and tax environments in North America.
"We are concerned that the new regulations will impose additional burdens and reduce flexibility, inevitably leading to even higher costs for transportation and food delivery services," Anderson said. She also fears that companies will hand out fewer assignments to workers to cut their costs.
But Eby does not buy it.
"These companies can suck it up. They will be alright, they will be fine," he said Thursday (June 13 during an unrelated event with Newfoundland Premier Andrew Furey." The companies that employ these ride-hail and food-delivery workers make billions while the workers themselves often live right at the edge, (British Columbians) don't want a scenario where their food is delivered on the backs of someone, who is looking at homelessness and using a food bank to subsidize the delivery charge," he said.
Damn, it's oddly refreshing to hear a politician say something like that.
Lip service really. If they want to lay the hammer, mandate them to eat the cost and forbid them to pass it to restaurants and consumers.
This would be either illegal or unenforceable
Not at all. There’s previous act in place which forbid them from charging more than certain amount to the restaurants already, just need to update it to also regulate the flip side. Should rhe platforms still choose to hike the prices, users can then report them to the applicable consumer protection agencies, and then they can impose fines on the violating platforms.
"just need to update it" is not that simple, because if legislation forbids price adjustments in all directions it's effectively dictating the price of the service, which is hard to defend in court. It was only justifiable to forbid cutting driver earnings because the assumption is that the company has other ways to compensate.
Why bother trying to protect Uber "consumers" anyway? If people want to make use of an exploitative service, they should pay a lot for it. Let Uber be priced out.