'It's not enough': Ride-share drivers hold protest for fairer wages across Canada
CTV
Some ride-share drivers in Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver are logging off for the day in protest of what they call unfair labour and business practices by Uber, Lyft, and Doordash.
Some ride-share drivers in Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver are logging off for the day in protest of what they call unfair labour and business practices by Uber, Lyft, and Doordash.
At Nathan Phillips Square on Wednesday morning, more than a dozen drivers were seen holding signs calling for fairer wages in the face of huge profits by the companies they work for.
The protest follows the release of a recent report by advocacy group RideFair, which suggested that ride-share drivers in Toronto made a median of $6.37 per hour last year.
“Most drivers are making less than half of [Ontario] minimum wage,” Earla Phillips, a ride-share driver and vice-president of the Rideshare Drivers Association of Ontario, told CP24 at the protest.
In a statement, Uber Canada said on average, drivers in Toronto made $33.35 an hour during “engaged time” per hour before tips last quarter.
Therein lies the problem, Phillips said, as drivers are not paid for the time it takes to travel to the passenger or the time they spend on the app waiting for customers.
“[That $33.35 is] for an engaged hour and that’s only the time that we have a passenger in our vehicle,” she said.
